S 5-^s 

./V13 




FRANK I. MANN. Farmer 




Copyright, 39 12, by Prairie Farmer Publs.shjn|f Co. 



FRANK MANN'S 
SOIL BOOK 



HOW TO DOUBLE THE PRODUCTION 
OF YOUR FARM EVERY YEAR 

THIS BOOK GIVES THE SECRETS 
OF SOIL BUILDING THAT HAVE 
MADE FRANK MANN'S FIVE 
HUNDRED ACRE FARM THE 
MOST PRODUCTIVE PIECE OF 
GROUND IN ILLINOIS 



A FERTILE SOIL IS THE BASIS OF 
PROFITABLE FARMING 



BY 



FRANK I. ly^IANN 

FARMERS' INSTITUTE DIRECTOR 
ASSOCIATE EDITOR 
PRAIRIE FARMER 



PUBLISHED BY 

PRAIRIE FARMER— CHICAGO 

1912 



PRICE ONE DOLLAR 



J 



Contents^ 



PART I. 
INTRODUCTORY 

PAGE 

Food Production Must Be Increased 7 

The Farmer's Surplus 8 

Faults in Distribution 9 

How Can Increased Yields Be Secured? 11 

What Is the Limiting Factor in Crop Production ? 12 

What Is the Natural Capacity of the Soil ? 13 

Moisture a Limit to Crop Yields 13 

PART II. 

THE SCIENCE OF AGRICULTURE 

Crops Not Made of Nothing 15 

Commercial Fertilizer Not Needed 16 

Active Organic Matter Necessary 16 

The Greatest Problem of Soil Fertility 19 

Sub-soil Organic Matter 21 

How Much Vegetable Matter ? 22 

Humus 22 

Nitrogen 23 

How Much Nitrogen ? 25 

Clover the Best Legume 25 

Phosphorus 26 

The Function of Phosphorus 29 

Source of Phosphorus 29 

How to Buy Phosphate 29 

How Much Phosphate to Apply 30 

How and When to Apply 31 

Limestone 33 

Burned Lime 33 

Loss of Limestone Zi 

How Much Limestone 34 

How to Apply Limestone 34 

Other Limestone Efifects 34 

Permanent Fertility in a Nutshell 35 

What Does Fertility Cost ? 2>1 

Experience on Bois d'Arc Farm Zl 

Some Results 41 

Effect of Soil Treatment on Quality of Grain 45 

What Is Land Worth? 46 

Relation of Landlord and Tenant 46 



i 



©CI.A309060 



CONTENTS— Continued 

PART III. 

THE ART OF AGRICULTURE 

PAGE 

Tile Drainage 49 

Plowing 51 

Disking 53 

Cultivation 54 

Corn 55 

Breeding for Productiveness 55 

Testing and Grading 57 

Getting Ahead of Insects 58 

Feed the Squirrels and Birds 58 

Oats 59 

Increasing the Yield by Grading 59 

Use the Drill 61 

Treatment for Smut 61 

Clover 62 

Producing Clover Seed 62 

Crop Rotation 63 

Weeds 66 

Livestock and Grain Farming 66 

What to Do v\^ith the Corn Stalks 67 

Advantages of Silage 69 

Alfalfa 69 

Rotten Corn 70 

Sugar Beets 73 

The Vegetable Garden 74 

Bois d'Arc Wood 74 

Farm Labor 75 

Getting Rid of Grasshoppers 77 

How to Make a Hopperdozer 77 

The Grasshopper's Life History 79 

A Homemade Phosphate Spreader 81 

The Materials Necessary 81 

Just How to Make the Parts 81 

Construction of the Hopper 82 

Hard Wood for the Shaft Boxes 82 

Capacity of the Machine 83 

Scientific Farming on Frank Mann's Farm 85 

Mann Has Tried Everything 85 

One Limiting Factor 85 

Cost of Fertility Small 87 

Corn Breeding Plots 87 

The Result of Science 87 

The Prairie Farmer's Creed 90 



FRANK MANN'S SOIL BOOK 



Frank Mann's Soil Book 



Part I 



INTRODUCTORY 

FOOD PRODUCTION MUST BE INCREASED. 

It is said that history repeats itself; but we are approach- 
ing a time in the world's history that has had no parallel in 
the past. With population rapidly increasing; areas of tillable 
land practically stationary, with a slightly decreasing yield, 
it is possible for us to reach a time when the evils of a con- 
gested population may be greater than they ever were in 
Europe. The European congestion was relieved by the dis- 
covery of a new hemisphere ; but all the world has now been 
discovered, and the future can realize no such relief. Nor can 
we depend on infant mortality, wars or pestilence to check 
the increase in population, because the scientific developments 
in our higher civilization tend toward less mortality and 
greater longevity ; also to avoid wars and prevent pestilence. 
The remedy for us now to adopt is to grow more food on the 
land we have, and in a way that its productiveness may not be 
diminished for future use. 

To grow better grain and more of it, is a worthy ambition 
for any man, because it is increasing the food supply. If we 
are to maintain our prosperity and preserve a higher civiliza- 
tion for coming generations an increased production on a 
permanent basis is necessary on the land now in use. With 
only small areas yet to be settled, the greater needs of an 
increasing population must be met through the use of land 
that is not now profitably productive and by a better use of 
the land that is now the most productive. 

The question of agricultural production is of vital interest 
to every one. The interest manifested by railroad officials, 
bankers, manufacturers and merchants ; the increasing appro- 
priations by Congress and legislatures for agricultural inves- 
tigation and study, is evidence that the importance of the 
problems of agriculture is being generally understood. 



FRANK MANN'S SOIL BOOK 

THE FARMERS' SURPLUS. 

To a large extent the business prosperity of the country 
is dependent on the farmers' surplus crops. It is the farmers' 
surplus that makes possible the great transportation industry. 
The farmers' surplus is the basis for the business of the bank- 
ers, merchants and manufacturers. Were there no surplus 
from the farms, there would be no large cities, no railroads 
and no manufactures. \\'ithout a farm surplus even those 
evidences of a better civilization — the school and church — 
would disappear. If the farm surplus should be much de- 
creased, such a condition would seriously affect all the great 
business of the country, and compel a readjustment of busi- 
ness methods. On the other hand, if agricultural production 
can be made to keep pace with population, we shall realize a 
business prosperity such as has not been known before. 

The farmer himself is interested in the farm surplus. It 
is from this means that the farmer and his family are able 
to meet the requirements of a better intelligence, and to partici- 
pate in those things which come with higher civilization. 
Through his surplus he must acquire the comforts of a better 
home, and there is no reason why the farm home should not 
have as many of those things which come with the modern 
heat, light and power as does the city home. 

In a fertile area, where the surplus farm products are 
abundant, and have been abundant for a long time, we are 
liable to assume that such a condition is normal and perma- 
nent, and congratulate ourselves that we do not live in a poor 
country. But visit some of those areas that were once fertile 
but are now sparsely inhabited by a depreciated population, 
where the surplus products are almost limited to small sales 
of tobacco or poultry. Would not such a visit stir a deep reso- 
lution to avoid such systems of farming as had caused this soil 
depletion? 

When the writer "took to farming" it was with a firm 
belief that before many years the ratio between food produc- 
tion and consumption would so widen that the law of supply 
and demand would operate to establish such prices as would 
make farming profitable. Some rather serious conditions have 
been met during that time. There have been times when crops 
were sold at a price that was less than the fertilizer value of 
the crop; prices so low that fertilizer factories could have 
worked grain crops into mixed fertilizers and sold them at a 
profit at fertilizer prices. However, we have now reached a 
time when the ratio between food production and population 



FRANK MANN'S SOIL BOOK 

causes prices that will justify profitable agricultural produc- 
tion and permit of permanent soil treatment, notwithstanding 
the numerous handicaps that have been placed on agriculture 
by legislation and trust combinations. 

The ratio now existing between farm products and popu- 
lation, and the prices that prevail because of this, is probably 
not far from the best ratio that could exist. Under this ratio, 
the farm prices will justify a development of both the farm and 
the farmer ; and such prices are no great burden on those not 
engaged in agriculture. Any further great widening of the 
ratio would be out of balance, and would be reflected in the 
general prosperity and happiness of the whole people. Like- 
wise, if the ratio should be greatly diminished it would bring 
back the period of agricultural poverty which would also be 
reflected in the general prosperity of the whole people. 

When we consider how easily the agricultural produc- 
tion can be increased it looks as though the food production 
might more than overtake the increasing population, but when 
we consider the slight difficulties attending increased produc- 
tion as well as realize the lethargy of so many land owners, we 
must conclude, that, as a people, we will be fortunate if the 
production merely keeps pace with the increasing popula- 
tion. 

While the agricultural interests are now in a fairly satis- 
factory position, the same is not universally true regarding the 
manufacturing interests, and the farmers can look with com- 
placency, at least, at the squirmings, under popular wrath, of 
many of the over-developed-in-capacity, so-called, business in- 
terests, to adjust themselves to normal demand, by combina- 
tions to limit production and fix arbitrary prices. 

FAULTS IN DISTRIBUTION. 

Much attention has been given for a few decades to the 
development of railroads and other means of transportation, 
except the country roads, and the problems of transportation 
have been quite well settled ; so that transportation is now 
probably a minimum charge in the distribution of products. 
There are, however, other factors of distribution that need 
to be given consideration looking to a solution. These factors 
in distribution relate chiefly to the "middleman," his duties and 
his compensation. It is outrageous that people in cities are 
compelled to pay 100 or more per cent, over the country 
price for country products, and much of the so-called high cost 
of living is due to the crude and unsystematic methods used in 




10 



FRANK MANN'S SOIL BOOK 

the general system of distribution. The country price for coun- 
try products is an open book and can be readily ascertained, 
so that buyers in the cities can know what advance they pay 
over the country price. But when the farmer buys a manu- 
factured article he frequently pays from 100 to 1,000 per cent, 
over the cost, for he has no way of knowing the cost. One of 
the next problems for the people to solve is that of economical 
distribution of products. 

As the increase in food production is necessary for busi- 
ness prosperity and for the preservation of civilization, it is 
the dominant universal problem. 

HOW CAN INCREASED YIELDS BE SECURED. 

The art of agriculture is old. Cain and Abel were the 
first farmers ; one being a grain and the other a livestock 
farmer. From that time till now the art of agriculture has 
been practiced in every country and in every climate. All the 
different methods that could be developed by the art of agri- 
culture have been practiced. Dififerent methods of plowing: 
deep, shallow, and subsoiling, and different ways of turning 
the furrow. Different methods of seeding, and different depths 
of planting, and different amounts of seed. Rotation of crops 
in every possible combination, and for every possible purpose. 
Selection and improvement of seed for specific purposes. 
Adaptation of certain crops to certain kinds of soil. What 
more can be included in the art of agriculture? The ancients 
knew all of these ; but the production was not maintained nor 
the fertility of the soils preserved. 

The general claim is frequently made that nothing more 
can be done to produce large crops than good farming; that is, 
to use the best methods in the art of agriculture. Much of 
the advice that is now given for growing better crops is re- 
lated to these practices known to the art of agriculture, and to 
which not much science has been applied. It is frequently 
held that certain methods relating to plowing, planting, seed- 
ing and breeding were the most efficient means of growing the 
largest crops. One man may claim that deep plowing is the 
principal requirement for a large crop ; while another may 
hold the same view with reference to shallow cultivation. 
There are still radical advocates of all these methods, each one 
contending that his scheme is the essential thing. 

In view of the hundreds of years of experience in the art 
of agriculture, it would be remarkable if it were left to this day 
to discover that increased production could come from any of 

11 



FRANK MANN'S SOIL BOOK 

these methods that have been so long practiced. These ques- 
tions all relate to the art of farming, and the fact that they 
have been in controversy ever since there was a history of 
agriculture, is sufficient proof that no one of them nor all of 
them can be considered as essential requirements for increased 
production on a permanent basis ; but that each contention 
meets times and conditions v^hen it is the greatest temporary 
relief, and hence the variety of opinions concerning the dif- 
ferent customs. The improvement of crops by breeding has 
also been advocated as the means of securing higher produc- 
tion; and another "new" method strongly advocated as being 
the only requirement is the thorough testing and grading of 
seed to insure the most perfect stand. 

WHAT IS THE LIMITING FACTOR IN CROP 
PRODUCTION? 

If the limiting factor in crop production is some fault in 
the practice of farming, then when the fault is corrected the 
crop should give response. If the fault was in the method 
of plowing or cultivation, when the right method was prac- 
ticed the maximum crop would be realized. If small crops 
were due to a poor stand, then a good stand would be the 
remedy ; if they were due to poorly bred seed, then well-bred 
seed would be the remedy. But when all these faults are 
corrected, and the best methods practiced throughout, we still 
fail to obtain any large increase in yields. 

If all known methods of soil tillage and crop manage- 
ment fail to grow a maximum crop then the trouble must lie 
in the soil itself. What is the need of having a perfect stand 
of corn when half a stand is equal to the productive capacity of 
the soil? What is the use of planting highly bred seed when 
scrub seed will produce as much or more than the soil will 
properly feed? What is the use of planting seed enough to 
grow 100 bushel crops when the soil will furnish only food 
enough for 50 bushels? What is the use of using the most ad- 
vanced methods known in the art of agriculture when ordinary 
methods will meet the maximum soil capacity? 

Though no method of farming can secure yields above the 
capacity of the soil to feed, it is easy to hold yields below this 
capacity of the soil, by practicing radically wrong methods. 
Where the yields are held low because of some error in the 
methods used, such error should be ascertained and rectified. 

The writer does not wish to discredit the art of farming, 
nor decry the development of the best methods that can be 

12 



FRANK MANN'S SOIL BOOK 

used, but it should be well understood that largely increased 
production can not come through the adoption of any modifica- 
tion of methods known to the art of agriculture. It is only 
after the productive capacity of the soil has been increased 
that the best practices in the art of farming will prove of their 
full value. Then there will be need of well-bred seed, perfect 
stands and more efficient methods. 

WHAT IS THE NATURAL CAPACITY OF THE SOIL? 

Has any reader of this book ever grown or known of being 
grown on any normal, even virgin soil, except black clay loam, 
a crop of more than 60 bushels of corn or an equivalent in 
other crops, under any method that could be used, when plant 
food had not been added in some form, either as clover, manure 
or pasture, or fertilizers? Many farmers have done this when 
plant food had been applied, but without some addition of 
plant food it has rarely if ever been done. This indicates that 
the problem of high production is in supplying plant food and 
not in modifying methods of farming. 

On Bois d' Arc farm during the last 30 years there have 
been tried many of the dififerent practices that have been 
recommended for increasing yields : deep, medium and shal- 
low plowing; subsoiling over 20 inches in depth; various 
methods and tools in cultivation; different methods in seeding; 
early and late planting; thick and thin seeding; and no great' 
increase above the usual yields was ever secured because of 
any of them. If the method employed was at any great vari- 
ance from well established practices the yield has sometimes 
fallen below the normal. Never until the soil was given intel- 
ligent treatment with reference to feeding the crop were largely 
increased yields secured. 

MOISTURE A LIMIT TO CROP YIELDS. 

It is frequently stated that the size of the crops is usually 
limited by the amount of rainfall. This may be the case, but at 
what yield does this limit operate? The season of 1911 was 
the driest known for many years in many parts of eastern 
Illinois, where the entire dust mulch made in May was not 
moistened until about September 1, when the crop was prac- 
tically mature. Wheat that yielded from 20 to 35 bushels had 
the same rainfall as that yielding 52 bushels ; oats that yielded 
80 bushels had no more rainfall than those that yielded 40 
bushels ; corn that yielded 70 bushels had no more rain than 
the corn that yielded 30 bushels. Moisture may limit the crops, 
but where is the limit? 

13 






FIG. 2— FRANK MA;\.\ JN HIS 
CORN FIELD. 



14 



FRANK MANN'S SOIL BOOK 



Part II 



THE SCIENCE OF AGRICULTURE 

The art of agriculture is old, and consists of those practices 
which long experience has considered worthy of adoption. The 
science of agriculture is new, and consists in the application 
of the sciences of mathematics, chemistry, ph3^sics and biology 
to agriculture. When a load of corn is weighed the amount 
of corn is computed by the science of mathematics. The 
science of mathematics has been in general use a long time, 
and no one questions its truth. The truth of the science of 
chemistry is as well established as the truth of the science of 
mathematics, and is entitled to the same confidence. Not 
until the last few years has there been much science applied 
to agriculture. 

CROPS NOT MADE OF NOTHING. 

One of the first fundamental truths established by chemi- 
cal science when applied to agriculture was that "crops are 
not made out of nothing," but that certain chemical elements 
are as necessary in the growth of crops as are heat and light, 
and that some of these elements must be fed to the plants 
through the soil. What they must be fed and the manner of 
this feeding has now been well worked out, and is being ex- 
emplified on many demonstration fields in diiTerent parts of 
Illinois and on many types of soil. 

Feeding crops involves two propositions ; one, supplying 
the needed chemical elements ; the other, making these ele- 
ments available to the plants. 

Before plants can use the elements of plant food that may 
be in the natural soil, or that may be applied in an inert form, 
certain bio-chemical changes (chemical changes caused by 
bacteria) must have taken place that will make these elements 
available to the plant's use. 

There are different ways in which this availability can 
be procured, but the one that should have our attention in 
practical agriculture comes from the activities in the decompo- 
sition of organic matter. A soil might contain large quantities 
of all the elements of plant food, but without some process of 

IS 



FRANK MANN'S SOIL BOOK 

liberation by which this plant food could be made available, 
it would not be a fertile soil. Active organic matter is the life 
of a soil, literally, as besides the chemical changes necessary, 
it provides the medium for the development of the necessary 
bacterial life. 

COMMERCIAL FERTILIZER NOT NEEDED. 

A very common substitute for the liberating effect of de- 
composing organic matter is the use of caustic substances, 
either in mixed fertilizers or by themselves, such as landplaster 
and burned lime. The use of such materials has no place in a 
permanent system of maintaining soil fertility as their effect 
is only one of stimulation, and tends to deplete the soil of its 
fertility to a greater extent. 

The most common use of these caustic materials comes 
from using the mixed commercial fertilizers, which contain 
small amounts of plant food to give the plant a start, and in- 
clude also caustic substances to force enough plant food from 
the soil to complete the growth of crops. It is fortunate, in- 
deed, that the people of Illinois have been so fully instructed 
in the principles of permanent fertility that very little of the 
complete mixed commercial fertilizers have been used in the 
state, and without a doubt they never will be used. The ob- 
jection to such fertilizers is their use as substitutes for the 
elements of plant food, and the excessive cost of the small 
amounts of plant food contained. 

ACTIVE ORGANIC MATTER NECESSARY. 

Active organic matter is any form of vegetable or animal 
matter that will decay in the soil : manure of all kinds, stubble, 
stalks, weeds, clover, cowpeas, straw, etc. Crop residues 
(cornstalks, straw, stubble, etc.) do not afford sufficient or- 
ganic matter for high fertility, and it is essential that more 
than this be supplied. As nitrogen is the most largely used 
element of plant food, and as special crops must be grown to 
supply nitrogen, these same crops may be depended upon to 
supply organic matter. Then the maintenance of both nitrogen 
and organic matter becomes almost a single problem, as 
legumes serve both purposes. 

To some extent organic matter can be used as a soil stimu- 
lant, as the acids formed in the decomposition of vegetable mat- 
ter have the same effect as those used in mixed fertilizers. 
The intelligent use of such acids is legitimate when used for 
their proper purpose. The fault comes from their excessive use 
as substitutes for plant food. Crop residues or non-legumin- 

16 



FRANK MANN'S SOIL BOOK 

ous crops that may be grown for their organic matter, do not 
increase the nitrogen supply in the soil, as the nitrogen con- 
tained in them was but recently taken from the soil. Growing 
rye, rape, buckwheat or any other ordinary crop for the pur- 
pose of plowing under is meritorious, but its true action as a 
stimulant should be understood, and no dependence placed on 
these crops as carriers of any new supply of plant food. 

Manure has to some extent the same stimulating action, 
especially where the nitrogen of the manure is not urgently 
needed by the crop. Here some of the action of the manure is 
its liberation of the mineral elements from the supply in the 
soil, so that after a time heavily manured land becomes out of 
balance in the plant food supply, and may give large growths 
of straw and stalk, without a grain yield in proportion. Manure 
without bedding included with it is not a very good carrier of 
vegetable matter, and the amount of manure required to main- 
tain nitrogen enough for large crops, is not sufficient to furnish 
enough organic matter, if the manure is made from highly 
digested food. Nor does enough humus result from its ac- 
tive decomposition to keep the soil in good physical condition. 
This is indicated by a garden on Bois d' Arc farm where high 
fertility has been maintained in this way for over forty years, 
but the soil is not in good physical condition. 

Clover, also, has a similar stimulating action, and on the 
rich prairie land of the corn belt, much of the increase in crops 
after clover, comes from its ability to liberate minerals from 
the soil. On Bois d' Arc farm clover was established as a crop 
in rotation in 1879. For a few rotations the efifect of clover was 
realized in the crops, but the time came when the crops fell 
below normal expectations. About the same growth of stalk 
and straw was secured, but the effect of having forced the 
minerals from the soil more rapidly with the clover, was finally 
shown in reduced production of the grain itself. This liberat- 
ing effect of clover is just what is desired, but it should be 
remembered that if the minerals are not kept supplied the 
effect of the clover is to wear out the soil more rapidly. 

In some places there is a growing tendency to use potas- 
sium salts on soils not at all deficient in potassium, because 
they give increased yields. Here again, the effect is one from 
stimulation and cannot be depended upon for permanency. On 
soils that are deficient in organic matter it may be legitimate 
to use some caustic salts as a temporary expedient until or- 
ganic matter can be added to the soil. But it must be remem- 
bered that the supply of nitrogen, vegetable matter and phos- 
phorus will be depleted long before that of potassium. 

17 



FRANK MANN'S SOIL BOOK 

THE GREATEST PROBLEM OF SOIL FERTILITY. 

The greatest problem in permanent fertility is to main- 
tain the organic matter with its nitrogen, because of the large 
losses from its decomposition, and from the fact that great 
quantities cannot be supplied at any one time. Vast quantities 
of mineral elements can be applied at any one time, if in an 
inert form, and the only limit would be one of dollars and 
cents. But to maintain organic matter and nitrogen requires 
skillful use of rotations and constant attention to necessary 
details. It requires money for the former, but it takes brains 
for the latter. It is not profitable to apply excessive quantities 
of organic matter at any one time, as some of the elements 
of plant food may be liberated faster than they can be used 
by the crops and become lost ; or plant food may be liberated 
at a time when there is no growing crop, and some of it be 
lost, though this loss is frequently prevented by the growth of 
weeds which seem to adapt themselves to this purpose exceed- 
ingly well. 

There is also an interference with other soil functions 
when excessive amounts of vegetable matter are applied at 
one time, especially when dry conditions follow. When large 
amounts of vegetable matter are to be plowed under, it is 
beneficial to cut it up well with a disk and mix it with the soil 
as much as possible before plowing. This largely prevents the 
layer of vegetation at the bottom of the furrow, which will in- 
terfere with the normal movement of moisture in the soil. 

Because of the perishable nature of vegetable matter, it 
is absolutely necessar}' to save to the utmost the annual crop 
residues, and all straw and stalks removed should be con- 
scientiously returned to the land. If straw is not used for 
bedding or food return it to the land at once and do not wait 
for it to rot down. The rotting action is needed in the field. 

The raking and burning of corn stalks ought to be stopped 
by public sentiment if not by public law. A heavy growth of 
corn stalks can be returned to the soil without seriously affect- 
ing any farming operation. They can be twice cut if necessary 
with a stalk cutter at an expense of but a few cents per acre. 
If cut when the stalks and ground are in right condition there 
will be practically no annoyance from them afterwards. The 
value of the plant food in corn stalks can be easily computed. 
but this value may be small as compared to their value to 
land much deficient in vegetable matter. 

Expressions of regret are sometimes heard that the corn 
stalks cannot be utilized, instead of permitting them to go to 

19 




20 



FRANK MANN'S SOIL BOOK 

waste. The western farmer has been severely scored by a cer- 
tain class of critics because he permits the stalks to remain in 
the field, and they figure a loss therefrom of immense propor- 
tions. Various schemes have been advanced by which the 
great loss could be prevented, and these schemes have varied 
from making paper to the manufacture of gun boats out of the 
stalks. 

This belief that corn stalks are wasted when left in the 
field does not take into consideration the effect of corn stalks 
when added to the soil. The value of this is far greater than 
could come from any of the commercial projects ever proposed. 
It is hardly possible that there can ever be any commercial 
proposition which can recover as much value from corn stalks 
as is already realized by adding them to the soil. Were it 
not for the stalks and weeds that have been returned to the 
soil, the productive capacity of worn soils would be much less 
than it is now. 

While nitrogen is the measure of vegetable matter in the 
soil it may not express the real value of such vegetable mat- 
ter. The nitrogen may be contained in well-decayed vegeta- 
tion that does not have the power to liberate much plant food. 
It is active decomposition that is needed. In the case of clover 
the decomposition is so rapid and complete that before a rota- 
tion has passed the decomposition is so nearly completed as 
to be inadequate for liberation purposes. On the other hand, 
crop residues decay slowly and when used in connection with 
clover make a valuable combination. 

Sub-Soil Organic Matter. 

A fact of considerable value that comes from growing 
deep-rooting plants in the rotation, is the development of the 
root-system in the subsoil, though this varies with different 
subsoils. It is common on Bois d' Arc farm, when laying tile, 
to find the subsoil permeated with clover roots to a depth often 
of five feet. These deep roots contain more or less plant food 
that may be used by succeeding crops ; they increase the 
porosity of the soil ; they improve the elificiency of drainage ; 
their decomposition furnishes humus which increases the mois- 
ture-holding capacity of the sub-soil, and they tend to equalize 
capillarity within the soil. To secure this deep growth of the 
root system it is necessary that the clover be growing thickly 
on the ground. When the clover is thin the roots spread out at 
shallow depths, but when thick will grow w^ith erect tops and 
deep roots. The favorite rotation crop on Bois d' Arc farm is 

21 



FRANK MANN'S SOIL BOOK 

a mixture of red clover, alsike clover and timothy, with the 
red clover largely predominating. In this combination more 
growth can be secured than with any of them alone, and there 
is a greater development of root systems, with the red clover 
roots occupying the deeper root zone, the alsike roots in a 
shallower zone, and the timothy roots in the surface. As 
timothy decays more slowly than clover, decomposition goes 
on for a longer time, and being more woody than clover it 
adds more humus when decayed. 

The difficulty of increasing the supply of vegetable mat- 
ter in worn soils makes it of great importance to maintain the 
supply in lands that now have a fair amount. It is much easier 
to produce vegetable matter where there is a good supply al- 
ready, than to build it up after the vegetable matter is de- 
pleted. The vegetable matter in the soil of Bois d' Arc farm 
and many other farms in the corn belt could not be duplicated 
in forty years if four tons of clover were grown and plowed 
under every year, and there was no loss during the period. 
This shows how great is the task of building up a soil in vege- 
table matter, and should prompt every land owner to do all 
that is possible towards maintaining the supply by frequent 
additions. 

How Much Vegetable Matter? 

Apply all the crop residues that is possible, and in addi- 
tion, grow enough clover or some legume to supply as much 
or more nitrogen than is removed by the crops. 

Remember that plants, like animals, must be fed ; that 
animals might starve within sight of a crib of corn and a mow 
full of hay, provided they were locked up ; that plants can 
starve in the presence of great quantities of plant food, pro- 
vided they are locked up ; and that the function of active or- 
ganic matter is to unlock the elements of plant food. 

HUMUS. 

Though the term humus is frequently applied to all vege- 
table matter in the soil, the better use of the term is to denote 
only the well decayed vegetable matter. After a time, any 
vegetable matter becomes so thoroughly decomposed as to be 
without definite form, or suggestion as to its original source, 
and becomes also practically inert, or inactive. This is humus. 
The value of humus comes largely from its physical effects on 
the soil. It renders the soil dark in color, thereby making it 
warmer. It makes it more porous, which permits better aera- 
tion and nitrification. It increases the ability of the soil to 

22 



FRANK MANN'S SOIL BOOK 

accumulate and retain water at a time of rainfall, thereby 
helping to overcome the effects of drouth. It tends to increase 
capillarity when low, and decrease it when too high, thereby 
acting as a regulator of the moisture supply. It makes plow- 
ing and all operations of tillage easier and more efficient and 
it makes the soil pulverize more readily and helps in the forma- 
tion of a good seed bed. 

Humus, drainage and plant-food are the principal factors 
necessary to overcome adverse weather conditions. Crops on 
well drained land supplied with plenty of plant food and 
humus, can laugh at almost any local weather conditions. Corn 
stalks and other crop residues are a valuable source of humus, 
and they should be carefully saved for this purpose, aside from 
their plant food value. 

NITROGEN. 

No method of soil stimulation or plant food liberation can 
maintain permanent fertility unless a supply of the elements 
of plant food is maintained. Of all the chemical elements 
that are necessary for plant growth, only three require consid- 
eration on normal soils. These are nitrogen, phosphorus and 
calcium, though limestone might be considered as a necessary 
amendment to neutralize the surplus acids formed in vege- 
table decomposition. It also furnishes calcium as plant food. 

Nitrogen is the element most largely used by plants, and 
it exists in the greatest abundance ; the greatest supply is in a 
free state in the air, however, and it is hard to capture and 
difficult to hold. Most of the common commercial explosives 
are combinations of nitrogen, which under certain provoca- 
tions will return to a free state with a "bang." While nitro- 
gen does not leave the soil so suddenly, its loss is sure and 
steady and requires frequent additions to maintain a supply. 

The soil nitrogen exists only in the organic matter, and 
the problem of maintaining nitrogen and organic matter is 
much simplified by this fact. It was held by some agricul- 
tural writers until recent years that the time limit of life on 
the earth was the amount of nitrogen contained in combination 
with organic matter, and when that became exhausted all life 
must cease to exist. The discovery that nitrogen could be 
acquired from the air through the bacteria that live on the 
roots of clover and other leguminous plants was probably the 
most important application of science to agriculture that has 
ever been made. It provides an intelligent method of main- 
taining nitrogen, and one to which the science of mathematics 
can be applied as a measure. 

23 



■ w 5^-*" ''9'^*^^r*5 




24 



FRANK MANN'S SOIL BOOK 

How Much Nitrogen? 

By knowing the crop requirements of nitrogen, and also 
knowing how much nitrogen can be added with legumes, it 
can be estimated how much legume growth is necessary to 
provide sufficient nitrogen. It requires one and one-half 
pounds of nitrogen to grow one bushel of corn, two pounds to 
grow one bushel of wheat, and one pound to grow one bushel 
of oats, though practically one-third of these amounts may be 
returned to the soil in the crop residues. 

One ton of clover hay contains 40 pounds of nitrogen ; one 
ton of cowpea hay, 43 pounds ; one ton of alfalfa, 50 pounds. 
This is not taking into consideration the nitrogen that may be 
in the roots of these crops. These amounts must not be con- 
sidered as the amounts of nitrogen that are sure to be added 
by growing these crops, because a part of it may come from 
the supply already in the ground. Any legume crop should be 
considered as having used the available soil nitrogen before re- 
sorting to bacterial nitrogen. 

Soil that will supply nitrogen for a 50 bushel corn crop 
will supply the same amount to a legume crop, which is 
enough for more than one ton of hay. Where not more than 
a ton to a ton and one-half of legumes are grown, but little 
nitrogen, if any, is being added, and any beneficial results that 
may come from such a crop is the action from its decomposi- 
tion. This is a very common condition, and some of those 
who are growing such small crops of clover will insist that 
they are keeping up fertility by growing clover. Even in acid 
soils legumes will grow up to the capacity of the soil to fur- 
nish nitrogen, and because small crops of clover will grow is 
no sure indication that the soil is not acid. 

Clover the Best Legume. 

Of all the legumes for supplying nitrogen, the best are the 
clovers, where they can be depended upon. They fit in the 
rotation the best, have a better root development, are easiest 
cared for as hay, and are the easiest seeded. It is a sorry 
day for any farm when conditions become such that clover 
usually fails. 

Nature left such a vast quantity of vegetable matter in 
the dark prairie soils that nitrogen is not usually the first 
limiting factor in crop production on these soils. The vege- 
table matter is, however, getting so much decayed that such 
soils respond quickly to the action of fresh organic matter. 
Nitrogen is becoming deficient on the high spots on the best 

25 



FRANK MANN'S SOIL BOOK 

farms, and these high thin spots are enlarging" rapidly and 
becoming more numerous. On Bois d'Arc farm clover has 
been grown in a four-year rotation for about thirty years, but 
this has failed to maintain enough nitrogen on these thin spots, 
and on the rest of the land the crops are still drawing to some 
extent on the original natural supply. The attempt now is 
being made to increase or at least to maintain the nitrogen, 
where deficient, by applying manure and by plowing under 
the total hay crop. It may be maintained in this way for a 
time, but the time is not far away when so much of the land 
will be deficient in nitrogen as to require the growth of more 
clover and the adoption of a dififerent rotation. 

The mere growing of clover or other legumes does not 
add nitrogen to a moderately productive soil. It is only by 
returning the growth to the soil that any nitrogen can be 
added to it. Where the crop is sold, or fed and the manure 
not returned, but little, if any, nitrogen is added, and when 
very small crops of legumes are grown the nitrogen may be 
diminished. Even when fed and the manure returned, there 
is considerable loss of the nitrogen, both from what is retained 
by the animals and from natural losses from the manure before 
returning it to the ground. Because of these losses legumes 
must be grown in any live stock system as well as in a grain 
system, if the nitrogen is to be maintained. The permanent 
and ever-present problem of soil fertility will be to mamtain 
a supply of nitrogen in the soil for large crops. 

PHOSPHORUS. 

Phosphorus is the mineral element of plant food to which 
we need to give direct attention in soil fertility, on normal 
prairie soils. Though there may be other elements needed, 
they will be cared for incidentally in other operations. Of 
all the factors that enter into permanent productiveness, that 
of phosphorus is the most easily applied. It has but to 
be bought and applied, and enough for many years can be 
applied at one time, without danger of any appreciable loss, 
except by the removal of crops. In the dark prairie soils 
where large amounts of nitrogen and vegetable matter were 
placed in the ground while still in a state of nature, phos- 
phorus has usually been the limiting factor in crop production 
ever since the land was tilled. In fact, it is probable that 
phosphorus was the factor which limited the growth of 
grasses in the wild prairie. The writer, when a boy, while 
herding sheep and cattle on the wild prairie of McLean 
county, often wondered why the growth of wild grasses on 

26 



FRANK MANN'S SOIL BOOK 

the low ground was waist to shoulder high, and on the high 
ground was but shoe top to knee high. And not until some 
analyses were made of these soils and several years' expe- 
rience was obtained in applying phosphorus on these same 
soils, was any satisfactory solution reached. As the lack of 
phosphorus limits the growth of legume crops now, it is fair 
to suppose that there was the same limit to the legume growth 
in the wild prairies, and it was the wild legumes that supplied 
the nitrogen to make our virgin soil. Hon. Joseph Carter, 
of Champaign, identified 56 species of wild legumes on the 
prairies of McLean county when he studied botany at the 
Normal University. 

Notwithstanding a large amount of nitrogen in a soil, if 
the supply of phosphorus is small, the crop yields will be lim- 
ited to the supply of phosphorus liberated. A soil may con- 
tain enough nitrogen for 100 bushel crops, but if the phos- 
phorus content is sufficient for only 50 bushel crops, the yields 
would stop at 50 bushels, and much of the nitrogen not used 
would be lost. The nitrogen that has been lost from the 
prairies of the corn belt, because it was not balanced by phos- 
phorus, is fabulous in amount. The process is still going on 
wherever the soil is richer in nitrogen than it is in phosphorus, 
compared to crop requirements. 

There is still a most wonderful opportunity to increase 
crop production by balancing an excess of nitrogen, which 
is still contained in much of the rich land of the corn belt, by 
supplying phosphorus. Because of being better supplied with 
phosphorus the plants are enabled to use a large part of the 
nitrogen that would otherwise be lost, and there is a gain in 
production from this use of nitrogen as well as from the phos- 
phorus itself. There is yet land in the corn belt that contains 
nitrogen enough for 100 bushel crops, but that is yielding 
but about 50 bushels, because of the phosphorus limit. No 
other reasonable investment can make such large returns as 
does this kind of soil treatment. 

It is still believed by some that the best corn lands do 
not decline in fertility, and this idea can be explained to some 
extent in this way : An excessive amount of nitrogen can not 
produce crops above the phosphorus limit. Some of the prai- 
rie soil, in its virgin state, contained nitrogen enough for 
probably 150 bushel crops, but the phosphorus limit was 
about 60 bushel crops. The nitrogen could be decreased, by 
natural losses, to a 100 bushel capacity without materially 
affecting the yields, as the phosphorus content declines very 
slowly. The nitrogen loss can be carried down to only a 

27 




28 



FRANK MANN'S SOIL BOOK 

50 bushel capacity, or the phosphorus capacity, before there 
comes any great decline in yields. When the nitrogen 
capacity becomes less than the phosphorus capacity, the 
decline in productiveness will be sudden and rapid. This 
condition will soon be reached by the rich lands of the corn 
belt. 

The Function of Phosphorus. 
The function of nitrogen lies in the growth of leaf and stalks 
of plants ; that of phosphorus is in the growth of the grain, 
and especially in the vital parts of the grain. The color and 
rankness in the growth of plants is some indication of the 
nitrogen supply, but only when phosphorus is very deficient 
will its addition be particularly noticeal)le in color and 
growth, except in legume crops. As the principal effect from 
phosphorus additions is in the grain, it takes the scales to 
determine its efficiency. Measure the ground and weigh the 
grain. 

Sources of Phosphorus. 
When dependence is placed on organic matter for the 
liberation of plant food, phosphorus can be used in the cheap- 
est form in which it can be procured. This is the ground rock 
phosphate. In this phosphate the phosphorus is contained in 
varying amounts and in combination with other substances. 
The phosphate is inert ; that is, it has no power to decompose 
itself, so as to liberate the element phosphorus. Phosphate 
has no caustic action on the soil, and a person may get his 
eyes, nose and ears full of it without any injurious effect, 
which is proof that any amount of it cannot harm a soil. 
Another source of phosphorus is bone meal, which contains 
about the same percentage of phosphorus as does a good 
grade of rock phosphate. In the bone meal the phosphorus 
is more easily liberated, and on soils quite deficient in organic 
matter it may sometimes be preferable to use bone meal, 
though it is a much more expensive source than rock phos- 
phate. 

How to Buy Phosphate. 
The phosphate rock contains varying quantities of the 
element phosphorus. A good grade for domestic use con- 
tains from 12 to 13 per cent of phosphorus. This grade 
seems to have been adopted for domestic use, and the higher 
grades used for export because of the heavier transporta- 
tion charges. The phosphate should be finely ground. The 
experience in Europe with slag phosphate has caused a gen- 
eral requirement that the grinding be so fine that 90 per cent 
of the material will pass through a sieve having one hun- 

29 



FRANK MANN'S SOIL BOOK 

dred meshes to the linear inch. The fine grinding permits 
the material to be better distributed throughout the soil, and 
increases the rapidity with which the phosphorus is made 
available. There is much low grade phosphate in the mining 
regions, and this is being hawked about the country by irre- 
sponsible men who get any price they can for low grade 
and coarsely ground stuff. 

Avoid any agent or salesman who tries to sell some 
particular brand of phosphate that is represented to contain 
phosphorus in a soluble or available form, or in which the 
phosphorus is contained in some peculiar chemical combina- 
tion, the terms of which neither you nor he has any definite 
understanding. Such "fancy" material is usually sold at an 
increased price. Set the dogs on such agents. The only 
basis for you to consider is the phosphorus content and the 
fineness of grinding. 

It is best to order direct from a reputable miner, with 
the definite understanding that the material is to contain 
from 12 to 13 per cent of phosphorus, and that it will be 
ground fine enough that 90 per cent will pass through a 100- 
mesh sieve. Have it clearly understood that settlement will 
be made on the basis of the guarantee as determined by a 
reliable chemist. When the car is unloaded, take a handful 
or more from each wagon load, and mix it thoroughly, and 
from this mixture take a sample to be sent to a good com- 
mercial chemist. If the phosphate is in bulk some idea of its 
fineness can be obtained from the weight of a full wagon 
box, as the finer it is ground the more bulky it becomes. 
When coarsely ground, or so that 60 per cent will pass 
through a 100-mesh sieve, a common wagon box will hold 
about two tons. \Mien ground fine enough for 90 per cent to 
pass through a 100-mesh sieve, the same wagon box will hold 
but about 2,800 to 3,000 pounds. 

How Much Phosphate to Apply. 

Just how much phosphate to apply for the greatest profit 
has not been determined. Experience on Bois d' Arc farm 
shows a profit in applying 1,000 pounds per acre once in four 
years; and it also shows a profit in applying four to five tons 
at one time. If the other factors are sufficient to produce 
100-bushel crops, it would be profitable to apply phosphate 
enough to balance the other factors. If we assume, as is 
usually considered, that the equivalent of one per cent of the 
phosphorus in the plowed soil can be used by one crop ; then 
since it requires 23 pounds of phosphorus to grow 100 bushels 

30 



FRANK MANN'S SOIL BOOK 

of corn, five tons of 12^ per cent phosphate will give a total 
amount of phosphorus that is not likely to limit the crop below 
the 100 bushel mark. On land where the other factors, or any 
of them, that enter into crop production are low, such heavy 
applications of phosphate would not prove so profitable as 
smaller applications. 

Experience has shown that the application of 1,000 pounds 
of phosphate once in a four-year rotation is highly profitable. 
This amount supplies sufficient phosphorus for a good growth 
of clover and causes a good increase in grain crops. It is 
adding phosphorus faster than it is removed in ordinary 
crops, and proves a good application to adopt in a permanent 
system. One ton per acre once in four years has more effi- 
ciency, and builds up the phosphorus content faster, and this 
amount is now the usual treatment on Bois d' Arc farm. 
How and When to Apply, 

No machine not made for the purpose will spread phos- 
phate satisfactorily. As good a machine as any, is the one 
described in Circular 110 of the Illinois Experiment station, 
or the similar one described in the Prairie Earmer of Sept. 
1, 1911. Even these machines require some experience to 
operate so as to spread the desired amount evenly. It is 
easier work and more economical to handle the phosphate 
in bulk, though in bags it may be handled somewhat faster. 
It is cheaper to spread as hauled from the car, and shifting- 
wagons at the field requires but one extra wagon. An 8-foot 
machine can spread from 16 to 20 acres in a day. As spread- 
ing and hauling are the principal features in applying the 
phosphate, it can be more easily done during late summer or 
early fall when the roads are most likely to be good and the 
field solid. So far as the phosphate is concerned, it can be 
applied any time of the year without injury or loss except 
from erosion, when the soil itself washes away. As vegetable 
matter is to be depended upon to make the phosphorus avail- 
able, the phosphate should be spread in close connection 
with the manure, clover or other legume crop that is to be 
plowed under. If it is intended to use phosphate principally 
for the coming legume crop, it should be spread and plowed 
under. Plant roots do not feed at the top of the ground, 
and phosphate applied as a top dressing or merely harrowed 
or disked in will produce little or no efifect. A thorough 
disking to incorporate it with the surface soil before plowing 
will be a great advantage. Phosphate used for this purpose 
of aiding the legume crop is usually profitable, and frequently 
is the means of getting a stand of clover when otherwise there 
would have been a failure. 

31 





FIG. 7— VIEWS ON DR. HOPKINS' FARM IN SJUTHERX ILI.IXOIS. 

1. NO TREATMENT AND NO CLOVER. 

2. GROWTH OF CLOVER AS THE RESULT OF LIMESTONE 
TREATMENT 



32 



FRANK MANN'S SOIL BOOK 

LIMESTONE. 

The principal function of limestone is to correct soil 
acidity. The necessity of correcting an acid condition and of 
maintaining a sweet soil, is because the legume bacteria do 
not thrive in an acid medium, and without bacteria the 
legumes cannot secure nitrogen from the air. The use of 
limestone is a preliminary step to the growing legumes on 
acid soils. The first step in systematic soil treatment is to 
determine whether the soil is acid, and the amount of lime- 
stone necessary for its correction. To determine whether the 
soil is acid is a simple proposition. Get a nickel's worth of 
blue litmus paper at any drug store ; make a ball of the soil, 
supplying moisture if necessary, though care must be taken 
that the water used is not acid, and that the soil is not handled 
with sweaty hands ; crack open the ball and insert a small 
strip of the litmus paper, allowing a protruding end, and then 
close the ball. If the soil contains acid the blue color of the 
paper will be changed to red, and the time required to change 
color is an indication of the amount of acid present. If it 
does not change for several hours not much acid is present. 
It is very important that the subsoil also be tested for acidity, 
and if both soil and subsoil are acid then at least two tons 
per acre of limestone should be applied every four years. 

Burned Lime. 

In many of the older states large quantities of burned 
lime are applied to the soil. Burned lime, when fresh, is 
caustic, and has an effect of burning out the organic matter 
in the soil, just as it burns the flesh of the body. The use 
of burned lime has no place in a permanent system of agricul- 
ture. 

Fresh burned lime does have the power to correct soil 
acidity ; but not till it has lost its caustic properties by again 
being converted into carbonates through natural processes, 
will it supply calcium, and become desirable for use on the 
land. The usual deposits of limestone are composed princi- 
pally of either calcium carbonate or a mixture of calcium 
carbonate and magnesium carbonate, called dolomitic lime- 
stone. There is little choice, if any, between these different 
forms. The dolomite is as good if not better than the high 
calcium limestone. 

Losses of Limestone. 

There is a constant loss of limestone from the soil through 
drainage waters, and to a less extent through the crops grown. 

33 



FRANK MANN'S SOIL BOOK 

The information from the Rothamsted experiment fields, in- 
dicates a loss of about 800 pounds per acre annually. The 
writer has observed the gradual loss of limestone and lime 
concretions from the surface soil during thirty years, till 
now there is but little left on the surface of the higher land, 
though an abundance in the subsoil. This means that on 
the prairie corn belt soil we are practically face to face with the 
limestone problem. 

How Much Limestone? 

The amount of the initial application of limestone will 
depend largely on the amount of acid in the soil and subsoil. 
On highly acid soils the initial application may well be five 
tons per acre. On soils slightly acid, or where there are 
traces of a natural supply of limestone, the basis for com- 
puting the amount to be used is that of future losses. In 
either case it is worth while to apply enough to last for sev- 
eral years. It will require about two tons applied once in 
four years to insure a sweet soil. 

On highly acid soils, where effects from limestone are 
desired immediately, the finely ground will prove the most 
efficient, but when applied as a future prevention of acidity, 
the coarser ground will prove more satisfactory, as it costs 
less and the future loss will be less. Some mills have a by- 
product in their regular grinding, that is removed by a quar- 
ter-inch mesh sieve. This material contains some that is 
very fine as well as the coarse, and is a desirable product 
when large applications are made, for both immediate and 
future efifects, and can usually be bought at a less price than 
when ground fine specially for soils. 

How to Apply Limestone. 

When small amounts of limestone are to be spread, the 
machines referred to for spreading phosphate can be used 
with satisfaction. For spreading larger amounts, a slow 
geared manure spreader gives better satisfaction. An old 
binder canvas, or similar material, can be tacked on the plat- 
form, and the oiled bearings should be protected from the dust 
as much as possible. 

Other Limestone Effects. 

Another eft'ect of limestone when used in large quantities 
is its peculiar power of flocculating clay particles, causing a 
granular condition, and thereby improving the physical con- 

34 



FRANK MANN'S SOIL BOOK 

dition of the soil. The effects are similar to the action of 
large amounts of humus, and are noticeable from the ease 
with which such soil can be pulverized. In very heavy soils, 
where there is considerable clay, this action is followed by a 
deeper zone of aeration and bacterial action. A noticeable 
instance of such action has been observed in a garden spot 
at the home of Mr. H. A. McKeene, in Springfield, 111., where 
the garden had been covered with subsoil from a cellar exca- 
vation, on top of which a quantity of limestone was applied. 
On Bois d' Arc farm quarter-inch ground limestone was ap- 
plied at the rate of 20 tons per acre, to one half of a depres- 
sion in the surface or old pond, where the soil contained con- 
siderable clay, and was quite impervious to water. The ac- 
tion of the limestone here has been apparent in increasing 
the porosity, and rending the soil more easily pulverized. 
An examination shows that the pervious layer of soil is deeper 
on the treated than on the untreated parts. This physical 
condition was probably reflected in the crop, as the corn 
yield that followed was 84 bushels on the untreated, and 112 
bushels per acre, on the treated. For the oats that followed 
the corn, the treated ground was probably too loose, as they 
went down so badly none were secured. Both the stand and 
growth of clover that followed the oats seem to be benefited 
by the treatment. 

Several carloads of limestone have been used on Bois d' 
Arc farm, that have been applied at the rate of about three 
tons per acre. But as the soil is not much acid, no great 
gains have come from its use, though there have been reason- 
able returns on the investment. The use of limestone will 
be continued, however, to prevent soil acidity. 

PERMANENT FERTILITY IN A NUTSHELL. 

To create and maintain a high fertility requires only 
three things : to grow and add to the soil enough legume 
crops to supply sufficient nitrogen, active organic matter 
and humus; to add more phosphorus than is removed in the 
crops ; and to supply calcium and prevent soil acidity by the 
use of limestone. Nothing else need ever be done for per- 
manent high productive power on normal soils. 

3.^ 




36 



FRANK MANN'S SOIL BOOK 

WHAT DOES FERTILITY COST? 

To apply phosphorus as fast as it is removed in crops, 
and to provide a reasonable amount for an increase in fer- 
tility, will require the application of about 1,000 pounds of 
phosphate once in a three or four-year rotation. At average 
points of shipment, this v^nll cost about $4 for each treat- 
ment, or approximately $1 an acre per year. The cost of lime- 
stone, considering' the average loss, will approximate 50 cents 
an acre per year. It will never be possible to avoid such ex- 
penditures under any permanent system. The cost of these 
materials may be somewhat modified in the future, and it 
is logical that limestone ma}^ decline at some points, through 
a greater development of the industry. It is quite possible 
that phosphate users have an opportunity now that may not 
be realized after a few more 3'ears. It is the man who gets 
in this game early, that will probably realize the greatest 
gain. 

If $1.50 an acre annually was levied on land as a tax 
with its present productive capacity, it would have a serious 
effect on many landowners, and would spell disaster to some. 
But this expenditure should be considered as an investment. 
It is an investment that gives good direct returns, and more 
than this, it protects the value of the investment heretofore 
made in the land itself. Nothing but soil treatment will pre- 
vent a decline in the productive power of the land, sooner or 
later. If large investments of this kind are not possible, a 
start can be made with a small investment. If the increase 
in crops the first year, or the first rotation, returns a value 
of $2 or $5, or $10, for each dollar invested, let these returns 
be established into a trust fund, to be used only for further 
soil improvement. Do as the stock jobbers advise — pyramid 
the operations. If this trust fund is kept inviolate and all 
returns from previous soil treatments be added to it, soil 
building in a permanent way will not be burdensome, but 
will give new interest and zeal to life. And do not violate 
this trust fund in a few years to buy an automobile or an- 
other farm. 

EXPERIENCE ON BOIS d' ARC FARM. 

Bois d' Arc farm is composed of nearly 500 acres of the 
corn belt dark prairie land, better described as the brown 
silt loam of the early Wisconsin glaciation. A half-section 
is divided into 80-acre fields, which have been cropped in a 
four-year rotation for about 30 years. The remainder of the 
farm is divided into smaller fields, on which pasture is in- 

37 




38 



FRANK MAXN'S SOIL BOOK 

eluded in a longer rotation. The half-section is mostly gently 
rolling to flat, and all surplus water is carried away in tile 
systems. On part of the remainder is a moraine formation of 
about 80 acres, having a rise of 30 to 40 feet. From 30 to 40 
milk cows have been kept for many years, and about 20 head 
of work horses and colts. Manure is hauled to the field and 
spread while fresh when it is possible to do so. One 80-acre 
field has been kept as a check against the value of manure, 
and this field has never had any manure or pasture. On this 
half-section clover has been grown every fourth year, with 
but one or two exceptions. After several rotations had passed 
it was realized that clover was losing its efficiency in the 
production of grain crops. Shortly after the Illinois Ex- 
periment station discovered that phosphorus was needed on 
some of the Illinois soils, applications were made to small 
plots on these fields in order to ask the soil what it did want. 
Applications were made of bone meal, rock phosphate, dried 
blood, potassium salts, and limestone. Several cars of manure 
from the stockyards were used in one field about the same 
time. 

Where the manure was used there was an increase in the 
yield of corn of 10 bushels per acre. Where the phosphate was 
used, either in bone meal or rock, the increase was 17 bushels 
of corn. Where the blood or limestone was applied, the in- 
crease was less than one bushel per acre. Potassium produced 
no apparent efifect. It was concluded that, as nitrogen in the 
blood gave no increase, it was likely that the nitrogen in the 
manure had given no increase ; and as there seemed to be 
enough decomposition going on to liberate phosphorus from 
raw phosphate, it was also likely that the organic matter of 
the manure had caused no increase. This indicated that the 
increase from the manure was caused by the phosphorus it 
had supplied. 

The cost of the manure was 55 cents per ton, making the 
cost of the application $5.50 per acre, with practically three- 
fourths of it used, leaving enough in the soil to produce only 
about 35 bushels more corn. The phosphate cost $4 for the 
application, and only about 10 per cent of its value had been 
used the first year, leaving enough in the soil to produce nearly 
500 bushels more corn. 

After similar trials, and the analysis of samples of soil by 
a son in college as a part of his student work, a systematic 
treatment with phosphate was commenced. The plan estab- 
lished was to apply 1,000 pounds of ground raw rock phosphate 
per acre once for each four-year rotation ; the application to be 

39 




40 



FRANK MANN'S SOIL BOOK 

made to the clover field before it was plowed in the fall. The 
trust fund has justified better investments, so that some extra 
treatments have been made, and the plan has been changed to 
apply one ton each rotation instead of one-half ton. Check 
strips were left in most of the fields, to which no phosphate 
has been applied, but in every other respect are treated the 
same. These were left in order to get a measure on the 
value of the treatment. In addition to the regular treatment, 
strips of heavy treatment have been given in most of the fields, 
and some small fields covered with the heavy treatment except 
the checks. On these heavy treated portions enough phos- 
phate is applied to make five tons as a total of all that has been 
applied, estimating what has been removed in the crops. The 
rotations have now been twice around since the plan of treat- 
ment was adopted, so that every field has had at least two ap- 
plications, with the minimum of one ton per acre, though some 
have had more than this. 

Some Results. 

The average increase of crop yields for the first treatment 
was 15 bushels of corn per acre ; 20 bushels of oats ; one ton of 
clover hay, and 15 bushels of wheat. As the cost of treatment 
averaged $1 an acre per year, there was realized either 15 
bushels of corn, or 20 bushels of oats, or one ton of clover, 
or 15 bushels of wheat for each dollar invested. There was 
also left in the soil about one-half the value of the treatment 
for the use of future crops. 

No part of these fields has been kept as a check to measure 
the efifect of growing clover in rotation, and to get some esti- 
mate of this value, yields are taken from some of the adjoin- 
ing land, which has been farmed in a two-year rotation of 
corn and oats without clover, for many years, and in which the 
soil formation, natural drainage, etc., are strictly comparable. 
The following table gives comparative yields for the first five 
year period after treatment was commenced, of the three sys- 
tems : a two-year rotation; a four-year rotation, with clover; 
and a four-year rotation with clover and phosphate : 

Corn, Oats, Clover, 

Bushels. Bushels. Tons. 

Two-year rotation, corn and oats 34 32 

Four-year rotation, with clover 54 47 lJ/2 

Four-year rotation, with clover and phosphate. . .70 70 2>^ 

This shows a gain of 20 bushels of corn per acre each 
year from the use of clover in the rotation, and a further in- 
crease of 16 bushels for the phosphate over the clover increase. 
In the oat crops the gain for clover alone was 15 bushels, with 

41 









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42 



FRANK MANN'S SOIL BOOK 

a further increase for phosphate of 23 bushels. The increase 
in the clover comes largely from the better stand and growth 
on the thinner parts of the fields, where there is an increas- 
ing difficulty in getting a stand on the untreated soil. 

The following table shows the relative yields from dif- 
ferent soil treatments the first year after heavy treatment: 

Corn, Oats, 

Bushels. Bushels. 

Two-year rotation 25 31 

Four-year rotation, with clover 67 55 

Four-year rotation, with clover and regular phosphate 

treatment 84 78 

Four-year rotation, with clover, four tons phosphate 92 89 

The comparison here was modified somewhat because of 
a destructive hail storm that came before the maturity of the 
corn. The figures show to some extent the influence of the 
treatment on the earlier development and maturity of the 
crop. Because of the treatment, the corn was further advanced 
in its growth, and contained more substance within the stalk 
with which to complete the crop, while the corn in the two- 
year rotation was abnormally low in the yield because of the 
injury from the hail. 

The value of phosphate treatments in the season of 1911 
was modified to some extent by the extremely dry condi- 
tions. In small grains, the increased yields from phosphate 
applications were up to the average, if not above. A field of 
oats where one ton of phosphate has been applied yielded 
80 bushels per acre, while the average yield of untreated 
land was about 40 bushels. In wheat, the increase was from 
35 bushels, the untreated yield, to 50 bushels where the treat- 
ment had been one ton of phosphate, and 52 1-3 bushels where 
the treatment had been 1^ tons. In corn the average in- 
crease was 10 bushels per acre, which is less than the average. 
This smaller increase was no doubt due to the inability of 
the corn roots to feed as freely as usual in that part of the 
soil which contained the applied phosphate, because of the 
continued dry conditions. More than usual of the surface 
soil was too dry for root development, and the root zone was 
considerably narrowed in the zone of treatment. 

Cases have been reported where phosphate was applied 
in the spring to fall plowed fields, and worked in with a 
disk when preparing the ground for planting corn. This 
method has usually resulted in disappointing returns. The 
disk could not incorporate the phosphate with more than 2 
or 3 inches of the surface soil ; and later, this same 2 or 3 
inches was used to make a dust mulch, thereby preventing 

43 




44 



FRANK MANN'S SOIL BOOK 

any root development that could come into contact with the 
phosphate. If the mulch was occasionally saturated by rain 
there might have been some benefit from the treatment, but 
when the mulch was not wet through during the growing 
season no benefit could possibly be realized. It should be 
well understood that the phosphate must be where the roots 
develop and feed ; otherwise there can he no benefit from the 
application, at least for that year. 

Effect of Soil Treatment on Quality of Grain. 

Another value from the treatment is its effect on the 
quality of grains. This probably comes under the theory of 
a balanced ration for plants the same as for animals, as this 
same effect has been observed from a nitrogen treatment 
when nitrogen was quite deficient. One factor in quality is 
maturity. Much of the complaint from commercial interests 
of the poor quality of grain is due to its lack of maturity. 
This can not be altogether remedied by growing smaller or 
earlier varieties of corn, as even the earlier varieties of field 
corn and the small varieties of pop corn contain many ears 
that are not fully matured. There is a difference between 
mature grain and grain that merely stops in its growth at the 
proper season, and then dries out. Maturity is a completion 
of the process of growth, and not simply a cessation of growth, 
and the completed growth or full maturity can not take place 
unless there is a sufficient supply of every element of plant 
food. When crops do not fully mature the grain is light in 
weight and chaffy, or it may contain an excessive amount 
of moisture, much of which might have been utilized if prop- 
erly fed, and a fully ripened condition reached. 

Some comparisons have been made between treated and 
untreated portions of fields as to the difference in the maturity 
of the crops. One test showed 35 per cent of the corn on 
untreated ground was well matured and solid, while the treated 
part of the same field, with the same variety of corn and 
other conditions comparable, the percentage of equally ma- 
tured and solid corn was 84. In the season of 1911, when 
there was no frost till late in October, several weeks after 
corn fields were ripe ; a year when maturity was not inter- 
rupted by weather conditions, corn on untreated ground 
showed 60 per cent solid ears, and on the treated there was 
85 per cent of solid corn. The effect of treatment on oats 
is usually noticeable. In one case, oats weighed 26 pounds 
per bushel on untreated land, and 35 pounds on treated land, 
and there is usually a dift'erence in weight. There is also 

45 



FRANK MANN'S SOIL BOOK 

a marked difference in the appearance of wheat from the 
treated and untreated ground, and the treated wheat is supe- 
rior for milling purposes. 

WHAT IS LAND WORTH? 

There have always been believers that land was too high 
in price. The original government price of $1.25 an acre was 
thought by the pessimist to be too high. When it sold for 
$10 an acre he though the price was too high ; when it reached 
$50 he thought it was too high ; and when it reached $100 he 
knew that was too high ; but since that he has held his 
breath. 

What is land worth? It is worth any value on which it 
will bring reasonable returns. Land with a productive capa- 
city of 20 bushels of corn or oats per acre is not worth much 
to the owner. It is worth such a crop in labor to grow the 
crop, and if the land owner gets anything from it, it is at 
the expense of the land worker's labor. If the land owner 
and land worker should be the same person, whatever he re- 
ceives is as a land worker and not as a land owner. If the 
land will produce 50-bushel crops, there is enough for a 
division ; enough for reasonable compensation for the labor 
of the land worker, and enough for small returns for the land 
owner, on the usual present valuation. 

If the land can be made to produce 80-bushel crops, there 
will be enough for good compensation for the labor of grow- 
ing the crop, and enough left for the land owner as returns on 
a valuation that is more than twice as much as the present 
selling price of good land. 

What is land worth that for seven years produced 5 tons 
alfalfa per acre, each year the crop being worth as feed for 
growing stock as much as 200 bushels of corn ; that the next 
year produced 20 tons of silage per acre ; the next year pro- 
duced 115 bushels of corn per acre; the next year produced 
88V2 bushels of oats per acre ; the next year produced 52 
bushels of wheat per acre? 

Whether land values in the future will be increased or 
decreased will depend on what the landowner may have done 
for the land ; whether he has kept up its productive powers, 
or whether he has permitted the usual decline in fertility. 

RELATION OF LANDLORD AND TENANT. 

Baron von Liebig said: "It is not the land itself that 
constitutes the farmers' wealth, but it is in the constituents 
of the soil, which serve for the nutrition of plants, that this 

46 



FRANK MANN'S SOIL BOOK 

wealth truly consists." A farm, then, is similar to a retail 
store — its value is mostly in the stock of goods. The land 
renter is like the clerk in the store, and as it is the clerk's 
business to get all that he can out of the stock of goods, so it 
is the renters' legitimate business to get all he can out of the 
land. If the clerk does not know his business, then comes a 
new clerk ; and if the tenant does not know his business, or 
enough to get good crops, then there is generally a new 
tenant. It is the storekeeper's business to keep up the stock of 
goods, and in a well-balanced supply ; so it is the land owner's 
business to keep up a well balanced supply of the constituents 
of the soil. If the store keeper fails to keep up the stock of 
goods, the time comes when he has no store; if the land 
owner fails to keep up the land, the time comes when he has 
no farm of much value. 




47 




48 



FRANK MANN'S SOIL BOOK 



Part III 



THE ART OF AGRICULTURE 

Any discussion of the methods used in the art of agricul- 
ture is made difficult by the large number of combinations 
that can be made when the weather, the climate, the soil, 
the crops, and the farmer himself are factors, and nothing said 
here is intended to be absolutely "fool-proof." It is intended 
to offer a few suggestions that may call the attention of the 
busy farmer to some of those things in every day affairs, 
which in his haste and hurry, he may have overlooked, and 
which should be considered' only ,when in harmony with com- 
mon and normal combinations' of the various factors. 

TILE DRAINAGE. 

On the so-called level land and on the gently undulating 
land, having a reasonably pervious subsoil, the first essential 
for good crop production is a good system of tile drainage. 
Definite information as to what would make an adequate 
system for a given piece of land, would be impossible, with- 
out knowing the character of the subsoil, the amount of grade 
that could be secured, and the contour. The size of the 
main strings will depend on the amount of grade that can be 
given, the amount of land to be drained in them, and the "lay 
of the land"- — the size of the depressions where the water 
gathers in ponds, and the extent of the watershed into these 
ponds. Capacity should be given the main system so as to 
remove all standing water within 12 to 24 hours after a 
"flood." The sub-mains that follow the natural depressions 
other than the mains, should be large enough to carry all the 
water furnished by the lateral strings to the main string 
within twelve hours. The size will depend on the grade and 
the area drained by the sub-mains and its laterals, and usually 
nothing smaller than six inch tile is used for this purpose, and 
generally eight inch tile are used. The lateral strings should 
run parallel with each other, and branch off from the sub- 
mains. 

The distance apart between laterals will be modified by 
the character of the subsoil, but consideration should be 
given to the changing tendency of the subsoil to drain less 

49 



FRANK MANN'S SOIL BOOK 

readily. Land that many years ago would drain fairly well 
with the laterals 150 feet apart, will not now drain so well 
with laterals 100 feet apart. As the humus becomes more and 
more depleted the distance required between lateral strings 
will be affected. Even where the humus has been fairly well 
maintained a distance of four or five rods between laterals 
has been found to be desirable. The size of the tile for the 
lateral strings is not controlled by the amount of water to be 
carried by them, usually, but by the "crack space" — the cracks 
between tile — to let water enter, and by the ability to over- 
come the accumulations of sediment. Five inch tile are most 
desirable for laterals, though four-inch are more largely used, 
and prove satisfactory for at least 40 years, as long as experi- 
ence goes on Bois d' Arc farm. A system of this kind, where 
both the low and high ground is included, will provide thor- 
ough drainage, and will cost not far from $20 an acre. 

While tile drains laid deep in the ground will drain a 
greater distance on each side, and this plan is frequently 
recommended by drainage engineers, it is found that the soil 
near tile not laid so deep is as well drained, stands drouth 
better, and keeps in better physical condition. From 30 to 
36 inches in depth has given the best satisfaction, one year 
with another, though it requires that there be less distance 
between strings, and consequently more tile. 

Some advantages of thorough drainage are : a deeper 
porosity of the soil, thereby extending more deeply the zone 
of liberation of plant food ; an encouragement of the bacterial 
actions in the soil ; more efficient results in all soil operations, 
as plowing, disking and cultivating; the ability to work such 
a soil at the right season, without being delayed by wet 
places ; a lack of germination of weed seeds ; and economy of 
labor. 

Where water stands on a crop for any length of time, 
there seems to be a deadening of the soil activities, and a 
standstill in the growth of the crop for some time thereafter, 
which is probably caused by the destruction of the soil bac- 
teria, and the washing away of available plant food, certainly 
of nitrates, so that the crop practically stands still in its 
growth until more plant food becomes liberated. Such a loss 
in the growth of a crop may mean the difference between a 
poor crop and a good one. 

Having to wait a few days longer after a heavy rain for 
some wet spot in the field to dry up, may mean not only a 
loss of time with the farm help, but it means several days' 
start for the weeds or a loss of several days' growth of the 

50 



FRANK MANN'S SOIL BOOK 

crop. The seeds of some of the most common weeds require 
excessive moisture conditions for their germination. Drain- 
age is one of the greatest aids in overcoming weed injuries, 
because of this lack of germination of the seeds, and because of 
the greater ease with which they are destroyed in the process 
of cultivation. 

It is only on well drained fields that we can depend on 
being able to do the early disking that is so efficient in pre- 
venting certain insect injuries. 

PLOWING. 

No definite rules can be established as to the depth which 
ground should be plowed, because it is affected by so many 
different conditions. Probably the most valuable result of 
plowing is to give aeration, which increases the bio-chemical 
actions in the soil. A plowed and well pulverized soil gives 
better opportunities for these activities, that are essential. 

Another effect from plowing comes from the fact that a 
loose, porus soil has a greater moisture holding capacity. 
These facts are the foundation of the arguments of the advo- 
cates of deep and subsoil plowing. Another fact that must be 
taken into consideration in the same connection, is that the 
root development does not take place so well in a soil that is 
too porous and too loose. While the arguments for deep and 
subsoil plowing are attractive, the results are frequently dis- 
appointing. The conditions or combination of factors that 
exist, may, however, greatly modify the results. 

Another purpose of plowing is to get vegetable matter 
into the soil, and again the depth to plow is modified by the 
conditions. The conditions most liable to modify the results 
from deep plowing are : the kind of season following, whether 
wet or dry ; the amount of humus in the soil, and especially 
the humus in the subsoil ; the character of the subsoil ; and 
the methods of tillage that follow. On land where clover has 
been grown in rotation, and the subsurface and the subsoil kept 
reasonably porous and loose from clover roots ; and where 
considerable vegetable matter is usually plowed under, the 
experience on Bois d' Arc farm has favored shallow plowing. 

A number of years ago a subsoil plow was tried. A special 
plow was made with a subsoil attachment, which would merely 
lift and loosen from four to six inches below the turned furrow. 
With this plow the soil was loosened to a depth of twelve to 
fourteen inches. Twenty acres were also plowed with two 
plows. One plow turned a furrow from nine to ten inches 
deep, and the other plow, which had but a share and no mould- 

51 








'41 

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52 



FRANK MANN'S SOIL BOOK 

board, followed in the furrow and lifted another ten to twelve 
inches in depth. With these plows the soil was loosened to 
a depth of from 18 to 20 inches. The crop results from all 
this deep plowing was a disappointment, and it was several 
years before this land got back to its normal productiveness. 
Where no clover or deep rooting crop is grown, and there be 
more or less of a "plow pan" formed; and on some kinds 
of soil deep and subsoil plowing may be very desirable. It is 
well to be conservative, however, and not change a method of 
plowing except under a complete demonstration with compar- 
able conditions. 

The time of plowing is greatly modified by different con- 
ditions. Where the soil contains much clay, and is not easily 
pulverized when plowed in the spring, it is desirable to plow 
in the fall, and let the freezing weather do the pulverizing. 
Soils that run together again during the winter into a mass 
as compact as before plowing will give better results when 
plowed in the spring. 

Early fall plowing, or plowing done in the late summer, 
is to be commended only under certain conditions. When the 
weather conditions are such that a growth of weeds or a 
volunteer grain growth may develop, this may utilize the 
plant food as it may become available, and through its decay, 
turn it over to the following crop. When no such growth is 
made during the time of fallow, much of the available plant 
food is carried away in the drainage waters. When plowing 
is done late in the fall the soil activities are at a minimum 
thereafter, and the loss of plant food is less during the winter. 
Another advantage of plowing late in the fall, is the effect on 
certain insects. Those insects which establish themselves for 
the winter above the plow line, are not likely to recover from 
the disturbance and exposure to the elements. 

DISKING. 

The disk is the best tool on the farm, and if farming 
had to be all done with one tool, that tool would be the disk. 
It is the best tool ever invented to compact and pulverize soils, 
and the main fault is that it is not used enough. There is a 
constant tendency from disking to form a "plow pan," which 
should occasionally be broken up by deep rooting crops or 
deeper plowing. In the hands of a careless man it is easy 
to form ridges in loose ground with a disk, but ground can -be 
disked as often as desired and kept level, if the disking is al- 
ways done in the same directions, and "splitting the middles" 

S3 



FRANK MANN'S SOIL BOOK 

each time. A man who can drive a disk straight is worth more 
wages than one who "runs amuck" in the field. 

A disk on dry ground is valuable, but on wet ground is 
an abomination. A rusty disk is not much good where soils 
do not scour easily. A great aid in keeping disks and other 
tools bright is to have handy a small pail of common black 
lubricating oil and a paint brush. 

CULTIVATION. 

There are many dififerent ideas and customs regarding 
methods of cultivation ; and before one departs far from es- 
tablished customs it might be well to wait for positive demon- 
strations. An understanding of certain conditions in the 
growth of crops is essential in applying the best methods. 
In the growth of a grain crop there is an enlargement of the 
stalk, leaves and root systems until about the time the grain 
commences to form, after which the enlargement ceases and 
the growth is one of transference of plant food from the stalk 
and leaves to the forming grain, and the formation of the 
starchy portions of the grain. The ability to form the grain is 
dependent somewhat on the extent to which the stalk has 
been supercharged with the plant food, and at which time 
the demand on the soil for plant food has been practically 
completed. This indicates the importance of securing a strong 
growth of plants during the early stages of development ; and 
this requires the largest possible root development. The best 
development of a root system will occur when the full zone 
of aerated soil is accessible to the roots, and the root system 
will be diminished when too much of the root zone is kept too 
dry and loose for root development. There is no question as 
to the conservation of moisture by a dust mulch, but when the 
mulch is to be made from that part of the soil that has re- 
ceived the most aeration, and consequently has the greatest 
amount of available plant food, it becomes a proposition of 
whether the surface is worth the most for the plant food in 
it, or to use as a mulch for the conservation of moisture. 
Opinions and practices dififer greatly, but the results at the 
Illinois Experiment Station for 11 years, indicate that the 
surface soil has more value when used for the plant food, than 
when used as a mulch. Series of plots have been conducted 
for 11 years. On one series, the surface has been scraped only 
sufficiently to prevent the growth of weeds, and another series 
has been given ordinarily thorough cultivation. The total 
yield for 11 years on the scraped plots has been slightly larger 
than on the cultivated plots for the same time. 

54 



FRANK MANN'S SOIL BOOK 

Neither does it seem that deep early and shallow late 
cultivation is the best, as the time when the crop needs most 
what is in the soil, is in its early stages of growth, and any- 
thing that tends to check or divert the root system does not 
meet compensation later in the season. 

Though results may be modified by conditions, experience 
indicates that on ordinary land, the best results will be ob- 
tained when only that part of the surface is used as a mulch 
which would not be otherwise used by the roots because of 
natural conditions. 

CORN. 

After provision has been made for feeding a good crop, 
then the details of the art of agriculture need skillful and intel- 
ligent application. One of the most essential things is a proper 
stand of corn. What constitutes a good stand of corn? It 
depends. Corn should be planted with reference to the habits 
it has formed. If corn has the habit of small stalks and a 
large number of small ears, it should be planted with reference 
to that habit. If it is some variety of sweet corn that has the 
habit of heavy stooling, there may be a different standard for 
a stand. If it is highly bred field corn, the amount required for 
a stand should be adjusted to those habits which have been 
more or less fixed by the breeder. 

Breeding for Productiveness. 

By selection certain habits can be developed in corn, 
which can be used to advantage in increasing yields. There 
are now many corn breeders who are growing corn with sys- 
tematic reference to fixing certain characteristics or habits. 
Some are using the ear-row method, where a large number of 
ears are planted, each ear being given a row, and a few rows 
selected each year that meet more nearly the conditions re- 
quired by the standard established. Where this selection is 
based on a certain type of ear, that type of ear is likely to be 
approximated, and other characteristics liable to be lost. When 
the basis of selection is only that of productiveness, uniformity 
of type is lost, but productiveness is increased. That there 
has been an increase in general field yields from selection for 
productiveness, there is no doubt. The difference in field yields 
when one part was planted with the mixed seed from high 
yielding rows, and another part with seed from the low yield- 
ing rows, has usually varied from one to five bushels per 
acre, in favor of the high yielding seed. What total increase 
may be accomplished from breeding for productiveness is 
impossible to estimate, as there is no satisfactory basis for 
long comparisons. 




56 



I'KAxN'K MANN'S SOIL BOOK 

Most of the corn breeders in the central corn belt are 
l)reeding- corn for productiveness, and the standard adopted 
and the results secured indicate that planting corn with refer- 
ence to the production of the largest number of one-pound 
ears is the most satisfactory. In the northern part of the 
corn belt a different standard may be required. Most of thq 
corn grown in the central belt has been bred with reference 
to the production of pound ears, and for best results it should 
be planted with reference to this fact. Corn should be grown 
with reference to the latitude to which it has been adjusted, 
and there should never be any violent changes made in the 
latitude. 

One-pound ears are none too large as a standard for 
Central Illinois, and on well treated soil larger ears are safely 
matured. One pound of corn for every hill, in ordinary plant- 
ing, makes over 50 bushels per acre, and two one-pound ears 
per hill makes over one hundred bushels per acre — a standard 
high enough for the best soil. It might be noted here that in 
the dry year of 191 1, an acre of corn planted with just one 
kernel to the hill yielded 51 bushels, while the adjoining corn 
planted two kernels to the hill yielded 57 bushels. 

Testing and Grading. 

If but two kernels per hill are to be planted it must be 
with a strong- assurance that they will grow. To test every 
ear for germination is a good plan, but do not plant every 
ear because it has germinated. Shell every ear by itself ; give 
it close examination, and unless it shows that bright lustre of 
high life ; or if it shows a poorly developed heart, throw it 
out. Do not plant any ear that shows space at the cob. 

Give the corn planter a chance — grade the corn. If there 
is much variation in size of kernels, grade the ears before 
shelling, and look over the ears before shelling and throw out 
the bad kernels with a knife. Take off the tip kernels down 
to the normal grains. It is best to remove the butt kernels, 
also, but it is not so material, as the grader will take out the 
worst. Grade with any good grader, feeding it slowly enough 
to do good work. It will not spoil the corn if it is graded more 
than once. Fit the plates of the planter to the corn, and give 
a test. Do not depend on a few drops in a drop test. Try 
a thousand drops, and do not stop until you approximate 90 
per cent perfect in a long drop test. When you commence 
planting, again give the planter a chance. Drive steady, take 
a gait that the team can keep. Lengthen the tugs — it will help 
some to overcome the "horse motion" which gives an uneven 

57 



FRANK MANN'S SOIL BOOK 

depth in the hills. Do not be in a hurry, take time to do it 
right. If the ground was well plowed and disked properly 
afterwards, the ground will be comparatively level, and every 
hill may be planted at proper depth. If it has been ridged 
when disking, or laid off in squares by disking both ways, or 
holes left in plowing, some hills may be planted so deep they 
will not grow, and other hills may be so shallow the corn can 
not germinate. 

Getting Ahead of the Insects. 
To maintain a stand of corn against insects requires that 
the ground be disked several times before planting time. If 
the ground is disked in the spring often enough to keep all 
weed growth down before it gets much above the surface, 
those insects which require fresh vegetable growth for their 
feed are practically all destroyed, either by starvation or from 
the disturbance and exposure. This method has proven very 
efficient against root aphis, cut worms, web worms and per- 
haps others. In 1911 a strip used as a check against frequent 
disking was damaged about one-half by web worms, while a 
count of 10,000 hills of corn in the field that had been disked 
four times at regular intervals showed not a single insect in- 
jury. This frequent disking may not be possible on land that 
is not thoroughly drained, or during a wet spring. 

Feed the Squirrels and Birds. 

To maintain a stand of corn against the enemies that live 
above ground, it is best to feed them. Boil some shelled corn 
and scatter on the surface of the field as soon as the corn is 
planted, especially along the edges and sides next to grass 
lands. A bushel will protect from 10 to 20 acres, and is much 
cheaper feed for birds, squirrels, mice, etc., than seed corn. 
As you do not want any of this scattered corn to grow, it is 
necessary to give it considerable heat to kill the germ. If this 
corn is mostly picked up or eaten before the planted corn 
is out of their reach it is necessary to scatter some more. 

When the early disking has been done, and a good disk 
and smoothing harrow has been used immediately before the 
planter, it is advisable to keep out of the corn field after plant- 
ing until the corn is large enough to do a good job of cultivat- 
ing. It is under these conditions, unnecessary, and to some 
extent harmful, to run a weeder or harrow over corn when 
sprouting or after it is up. The weeder may kill some weeds, 
but there are enough left to require a good cultivation, and 
some plants may be injured in the process so as to cause 
freaks and malformations. 

58 



FRANK MANN'S SOIL BOOK 



OATS. 



While the soil is the most important factor in securing 
good oat yields, there are other factors that need attention. 
These are the quality of seed, the right amount of seed, and 
the even distribution of the seed. 

From the breeder's standpoint ordinary oats are a badly 
mixed lot of strains and characteristics, and cannot be con- 
sidered as purebred. It is probable that some varieties, at 
least, have within them an inferior strain, that develops as a 
small oat, with inferior growth and yield, and that this inferior 
strain can be, to some extent, removed by the fanning mill 
method, or a screening out of the small oats. It cannot be 
contended that oats can be bred into a pure strain through 
any fanning mill selection, nor can any variety be modified 
in its characteristics, except where such modification comes 
from the elimination of some quality accompanying size. 

Increasing Yields by Grading. 

The first year that Silvermine oats were graded over a 
sieve having about ten rectangular meshes per linear inch, 
the loss through the sieve was about 60 per cent. The next 
year, the loss was 50 per cent; the next year 40 per cent; 
then 30 per cent ; since which the loss varies from 20 to 25 
per cent. Before any grading of oats was done, a bushel con- 
tained about 800,000 kernels. After five years of grading a 
bushel of the same oats ungraded contained about 550,000 
kernels, showing that there had been a gradual elimination of 
some of the small oats. As the number of oats in a bushel had 
been decreased, it was logical that more bushels of seed would 
be required for a proper seeding. Some tests were made by 
sowing different amounts of graded seed in comparison with 
the small rejected oats, with the following results: 

Small Oats. Large Oats. Large Oats. 

Seed, bushels per acre 2^ 2^/2 3^ 

Number of kernels per acre 1,625,000 1,000,000 1,500,000 

Yield per acre, bushels 35 65 80 

The conclusion was drawn, and it has been confirmed by 
later experience, that on good land, the best seeding is about 
one and one-half million kernels of good graded oats per 
acre. This number may not be the best for all varieties and 
for other conditions, but it is well worth a farmer's time to 
grade well his seed oats and ascertain by count what amount 
of seed is best for his conditions. If there is no compensation 
from the decrease in the number of kernels per bushel from 
grading, by using more bushels for seed, the gain from grading 

59 




FIG. 17— RESULTS OF FAXXIXc; MILL SELECTION ol' OATS. 



60 



FRANK MANN'S SOIL BOOK 

may be lost. It is not uncommon for some careless farmer 
to use four bushels of seed oats per acre, of oats that will run 
one million to the bushel, thus sowing about four million ker- 
nels per acre. From any such seeding no reasonable growth 
nor satisfactory yield is realized. 

Use the Drill. 

It is possible to secure rather even distribution both in 
broadcasting and drilling, but it is easier and safer to depend 
on the drill. Usually in broadcasted fields may be found 
many small areas where the oats are much too thick, and 
other areas where they are much too thin, and therefrom the 
yield reduced in both cases. The drill, however, in the hands 
of a careful man, measures out the grain uniformly, and it is 
placed in the ground systematically, and at regular depth, 
giving an even stand and a more uniform growth. It occa- 
sionally happens that drilled oats yield less than broadcasted. 
This is likely to be the case when too much seed is used in 
both cases, and probably comes from the fact that more of 
the oats grow when drilled, and they are thereby thicker than 
the broadcasted. 

Treatment for Smut. 

A necessary requirement for good oat crops with most 
varieties is that the seed be treated to destroy smut germs. 
An investigation of a large number of oat fields showed that 
from 5 per cent to 50 per cent of the stalks were blasted by 
smut, while in fields where the seed had been treated, prac- 
tically no smut was found. Though some varieties seem quite 
resistant to this injury, there is probably no variety which it 
will not pay to treat. 

There are two methods of treatment of smut — the hot- 
water method, and the formalin method. The hot-water 
method has been found to be somewhat the most efficient, 
but the dil^culties attending its use makes the formalin 
method the most desirable to use. Use one pound of 40 per 
cent solution of formalin to about 40 gallons of water, and 
with this water wet the oats quite thoroughly, constantly 
mixing the oats with a shovel, so that all the oats receive 
some of the water. When well wetted, pile up the oats and 
cover with wet horse blankets, bags, or anything to prevent 
the escape of the fumes from the solution. Leave covered 
from 12 to 24 hours, when they may be spread out to dry, or 
they may be sown at once, making allowance for any increase 
in amount from swelling, if there be any. A thorough treat- 
ment once in three or four years is usually sufficient. 

61 



FRANK MANX'S SOIL BOOK 

The custom of growing very early oats or of seeding very 
thin are different methods of adapting the oat crop to the 
changing soil conditions, and the extreme of either method 
will not yield the largest crop. 

CLOVER. 

For many years red clover has been grown on Bois d' Arc 
farm with but two failures, and these were due to grasshop- 
pers. For a few years before the use of phosphate was com- 
menced, it was becoming more difficult to get a good stand on 
the higher and thinner parts of the fields, and some years 
there was a partial failure in these places. The phosphate has 
apparently ended the difficulty, unless the soil should become 
acid. Heavy seedings have been the custom. When clover 
was used alone the usual seeding was one bushel of seed to 
four or five acres of ground. Later years, because the inocula- 
tion was so thorough and the volunteer clover so abundant, 
slightly smaller seedings have been the rule, though a bushel 
of red clover, alsike clover and timothy mixed is usually 
used for about six acres. Clover seeding is made with oats 
or wheat. On the wheat it is sown early in the spring when 
the soil is in that checkered condition it seems likely the seed 
will become covered with the first rain. If this condition does 
not obtain, then the wheat ground is harrowed or rolled after 
seeding clover. When seeded with oats the seed is scattered 
on the surface and harrowed in. 

Producing Clover Seed. 

The problems connected with the clover seed crop do 
not seem to be well understood, and crops of only one or two 
bushels are the rule. On. the higher land seed is produced in 
fair yields, but on the lower and heavier ground, the yield is 
very light. Clover tends more to being a perennial on such 
soil, but whether from this reason it does not produce more 
seed needs further study. Whether clover tends towards be- 
ing a perennial because it does not produce seed, or whether it 
does not produce seed because of the tendency toward becom- 
ing a perennial is open to proof. 

Some common causes of failure to secure clover seed crops 
are insect injuries and lack of pollination. The midge, chal- 
cid, and caterpillar are usually in most clover fields in great 
abundance and are very destructive to the seed. The life 
habits of these insects are well adapted to the life habits of 
the clover, but depend on a good degree of maturity of the 
clover. If the first crop of clover be cut before its maturity is 

62 



1-RANK MANN'S SOIL BOOK 

too far advanced and before the maturity of the first genera- 
tion of insects that are within the heads or seeds, they are 
largely destroyed, and the second generation, which does the 
most damage, is reduced to a minimum. 

On the other hand, those insects, especially the bumble 
bee, which aid in the pollination of clover, also have life habits 
which are adapted to the life history of the clover. Under 
natural conditions, then, the insect pests will develop the first 
generation in the mature first clover crop, and complete their 
life history in time to deposit eggs for a largely increased gen- 
eration in the second clover growth, at which time the bumble 
bees are ready for work in the process of pollination. If 
clover be forced too far from its regular life habits, it may be 
made to avoid both the injurious and beneficial insects. If 
the first crop be cut too early, this may avoid the insect pests, 
but the second blooming period will come too early for bumble 
bee work. No absolute date can be given when the first crop 
should be cut to meet most favorable conditions in both propo- 
sitions, but in the latitude of Central Illinois, this average 
date is about June 15, though it varies with different seasons. 

It is notable that better yields of clover seed are secured 
from rather small fields than from large ones. This is prob- 
ably accounted for from the reason that practically the same 
number of pollinating insects are confined to the smaller areas 
in their operations. 

There are many species of bumble bees and with different 
habits as to maturity, nesting, etc. Those that nest in trees, 
and similar places, above ground, mature earlier than those 
species which nest in the ground. This may partly account 
for better yields of clover seed in timbered areas. Honey 
bees also work on clover to some extent, more especially on 
the lighter soils where the clover is not so rank and the 
flowers not so large as on the richer land. Whether bumble 
bees are necessary for clover pollination is frequently ques- 
tioned, but observation will indicate a correlation between the 
two. 

CROP ROTATION. 

A crop rotation is desirable for many reasons, and is 
essential for some of these reasons. A rotation permits the 
growth of legume crops by which nitrogen and vegetable mat- 
ter are added to the soil ; it utilizes different root zones of the 
soil ; it may include gleaning or cultivated crops ; it tends to 
avoid insect pests ; it provides for a better distribution of labor 
in growing, harvesting and marketing crops. 

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FRANK MANN'S SOIL BOOK 

The most imperative of all the results that can be accom- 
plished by a rotation, is that of the addition of nitrogen and 
vegetable matter from legume crops, and this also meets to a 
large extent those ether things that are accomplished by rota- 
tion. Any rotation used should be adopted with the dominant 
idea of the legume crop. 

The period of the rotation will depend on the soil require- 
ments. Where nitrogen and vegetable matter are very defi- 
cient a short rotation is necessary. Mr. A. P. Schroeder has 
had excellent results on the poor unglaciated hill land of 
Pulaski county, in a four-year rotation of corn, cowpeas, 
wheat and clover, with both legume crops left on the land 
and plowed under with mineral treatments. Though this ro- 
tation has not been run many years, his average yields of grain 
are exceeding the average yields of the dark prairie corn belt. 

Where the soil is not extremely deficient in nitrogen or 
vegetable matter, a three-year rotation is a good one, consist- 
ing of a cultivated grain crop, a small grain crop and the 
legume crop — corn, oats (or wheat) and clover. On the bet- 
ter corn belt land where nitrogen is not much deficient, but 
where the vegetable matter in the soil is so far decayed as to 
have insufificient activity of decomposition, and where the 
principal effort is to maintain and not largely increase the 
nitrogen, a four-year rotation will serve quite well until too 
much further depletion has taken place. On drained land, 
where the danger of heaving is not too great, a rotation of corn, 
oats, wheat and clover is a good one. A less desirable rotation 
is one of corn, corn, oats and clover, but nitrogen cannot be 
maintained by these rotations. On land which is not too rich 
in nitrogen the modified Norfolk rotation of wheat, corn, oats 
and clover will be better, clover being seeded with the wheat 
and plowed under for corn. 

Whether the nitrogen is maintained or increased in any 
rotation will der'end somewhat on the size of the legume crops, 
and the 3aeld c che grain crops ; and it should be the effort to 
adopt such rotation as will adjust the amount of nitrogen 
added by the legume crops to the amount of nitrogen taken 
out in the grain crops. 

It should be well understood that no rotation in itself can 
maintain fertility because it cannot provide for any addition 
to the supply of mineral elements. If larger crops are grown 
under a rotation, greater drafts are made on the supply of 
minerals and soil depletion may go on faster because of the 
rotation. 

65 



FRANK MANN'S SOIL BOOK 

WEEDS. 

While weeds may serve a good purpose in conserving 
available plant food at a time when the ground would be other- 
wise idle, no effort should be spared to fight the pests. Weeds 
vary in their habits, so that some species become much more 
noxious than other, but they are all weeds. Those that propa- 
gate by means of the underground rootstocks are the most 
difficult to control, but a general principle can be applied to 
all, regardless of any special habit. It is this, that if no 
growth is permitted above ground, the root system must 
perish. The application of this principle permits of various 
methods, though in large areas it may be difficult of applica- 
tion. If a patch of Canada thistles can be deprived of all leaf 
grov/th, with a hoe or otherwise, once a week for two years, 
it will be practically destroyed. 

One of the best aids in successfully fighting some of the 
perennials, and many of the annuals, is good underdrainage, 
as this interferes somewhat with seed germination and growth, 
and helps in the destruction by cultivation. 

Weeds have wonderful powers of reproduction. A good 
crop of oats will yield about 25 to one ; wheat 20 to one ; corn 
may give 1,000 to one; but a single plant of Jimson weed has 
been known to produce 151,000 to one; button weed, 1,500 to 
one; wild lettuce 15,000 to one; purslane 1,250,000 to one; 
pigweed 2,359,000 to one. 

There is no better place for a good sharp hoe than in the 
corn field after the last cultivation, and before weeds ripen. 
Keep the hoe sharp, and let some of the latent savage instincts 
of destruction have full sway. It will be a big undertaking for 
a few years on fields where weeds have had nearly full posses- 
sion for many years, even where good cultivation has been 
given, and it will take years to accomplish very much towards 
their permanent elimination. 

LIVESTOCK AND GRAIN FARMING. 

No doubt in the near future there will be need for the 
production of more livestock. Whether that need will be 
met by increasing the production on that land which for one 
reason or another is not favorable for the production of grain ; 
or whether it be met by using good grain lands for the pur- 
pose, is a problem that will be settled by experience. Whether 
a farm composed of good grain land should be used as a live- 
stock farm, which means the breeding, rearing and feeding of 
animals, or whether it should be used for the production of 

66 



FRANK MANN'S SOIL BOOK 

grain, should be determined by all the factors that enter into 
it, the chief factor being the man himself. 

From the standpoint of soil fertility, any decision should 
consider certain facts that pertain to the problem. As a gen- 
eral average, animals appropriate one-fourth of the nitrogen 
in the feed for body uses, and as generally handled, another 
fourth is lost in the manure. 

The organic matter in manure is the complement of the 
digestibility of the feed. Average digestibility of feed is about 
two-thirds, leaving one-third of the organic matter in the 
manure. Bedding used with manure is just as valuable to be 
returned to the soil in the form of straw, so far as the straw is 
concerned, as it is with manure. The manure has added noth- 
ing to it but manure. Notwithstanding these losses, where all 
the grain produced is also fed, the nitrogen and organic mat- 
ter can be fairly well maintained or increased. Phosphorus 
must be supplied to compensate for that taken away in the 
bones of animals or their other products. In mixed farming 
where the legumes are all fed with only a small proportion of 
the grain, even where the manure is quite carefully saved, it 
seems that fully twice as many legume crops must be grown, 
than where the legume crops are plowed under, and nothing 
removed but the seed, in order to maintain nitrogen and 
organic matter, and it also requires that more phosphorus be 
applied. 

Land may be so poor in nitrogen and organic matter that 
it is more profitable to grow frequent legume crops and turn 
them under than to feed stock, when the desire is to rapidly 
build up such a soil. In fact, it would seem that the richest 
land is the land that can best be used for the purpose of a 
stock farm, except such land as can not be used for any other 
purpose. 

WHAT TO DO WITH THE CORN STALKS. 

The use of corn stalks for feeding purposes involves more 
hard, disagreeable and less profitable work than any other 
method of feeding. Where the whole crop is fed in a natural 
condition for the primary purpose of the grain, with stalks for 
incidental roughage, and the crop harvested and handled in 
some economical manner, it may prove a fairly satisfactory 
method of feeding. Where the corn is husked and the stover 
is fed in a natural condition as a substitute for hay, it involves 
much disagreeable and hard work, in husking the corn, haul- 
ing the fodder and returning the manure to the field. There is 
probably no job that is more disagreeable than handling 

67 




68 



FRANK MANN'S SOIL BOOK 

manure made from long corn fodder. The use of machinery 
to husk the corn and shred the fodder is not likely to lessen 
the expense very materially. Shredded fodder has a high 
tendency to heat and spoil, and usually it is not safe to pile 
up much of it before late in November, and even after that 
time it rarely keeps well in large quantities. By the time it 
is usually safe to shred corn the days are short, and it is likely 
the shocks are either frozen in the ground and covered with 
snow, or the fields are wet and soft, and the operations are 
slow and expensive ; and the shredded fodder is dirty and 
gritty. 

When we consider that the feeding value of two to three 
acres of average corn stover is less than one ton of alfalfa hay, 
and not considering the loss that comes from the shrinkage in 
the corn, nor the value of the undigested fodder as humus ; it 
would seem that alfalfa would entirely supersede corn fodder 
for stock feeding. Especially so since more feeding value can 
be produced on one acre of alfalfa than on 10 acres of corn 
stover, and the labor and expense involved is much less. 

Advantages of Silage. 

The use of the corn crop in the form of silage meets every 
objection that has been used against the feeding of fodder. 
The work is done at a time when economical work can be 
done ; the bio-chemical changes that take place in the silo in- 
crease the palatability and digestibility of the feed ; the feed is 
easily accessible at all times, and is easy to handle both as a 
feed and in the manure. One great value of silage is as a 
supplement to summer pasture, and when there is not enough 
to feed the whole year it usually pays to feed less in the winter 
in order to have some for summer feeding. Cows trained to 
it will never get so full of anything else that they will not eat 
ensilage. 

The Pearl pop corn has been used for silage for a number 
of years on Bois d' Arc farm, and is a favorite. It yields 
nearly as much silage as field corn, with about the same pro- 
portion of grain, and is more easily handled both in the field 
and by the machinery, and there is somewhat less waste in 
feeding, as compared to large stalks of field corn. 

ALFALFA. 

Alfalfa has been grown on Bois d' Arc farm for 11 years, 
with an average annual yield of 5 tons per acre. It has been 
demonstrated in that time that successful growing depends 
on soil inoculation; a sweet soil, or the soil sweetened with 

69 



FRANK MANN'S SOIL BOOK 

limestone ; and good natural drainage. Alfalfa may grow 
without inoculation and on an acid soil, but the growth will 
only be so much as the soil nitrogen will produce, and when 
more nitrogen is required for growth, if it cannot be secured 
through the action of the nitrogen-gathering bacteria, the 
alfalfa plants will perish. 

Alfalfa is a heavy user of phosphorus, and before the 
alfalfa field is plowed up for other crops, it should be given a 
heavy application of phosphate. Alfalfa does not injure the 
soil for other crops, as can be seen from results given in an- 
other place. 

The day has gone by when the dairyman and stock grower 
can realize much profits from the old methods of feeding prin- 
cipally the corn crop, supplemented by some high priced 
protein mill feed. He has at hand a system that will prove 
far more profitable by growing protein in alfalfa and using 
the corn crop as silage. 

ROTTEN CORN. 

Because of the great amount of corn grown and the length 
of time it has been grown, it is remarkable that there has not 
been some insect pest developed that would be as disastrous 
to the corn crop as are some of the pests to other crops. Most 
of the insect pests of corn that we have are quite readily con- 
trolled by easily applied methods, due to the diligent study of 
the problems by the entomologists. A disastrous enemy to 
corn which has existed for many years, and which is becoming 
more prevalent and injurious as the years go on, is the dry rot 
of corn. It is possible that this trouble may in the future 
prove a much greater handicap to both the yield and quality 
of corn. It is well understood that the disease is caused by 
fungi of the Diplodia and Fusarium species, with occasionally 
some bacterial injury. When the disease attacks the ear 
early in its period of growth, there is likely to be an unde- 
veloped ear, and sometimes but little more than a cob. At 
husking time ears are found that were arrested in growth at 
all stages of development. Some ears show but slight progress 
of the disease and that the ear almost reached full maturity. 
Some ears show but a slight infection, as shown by the dis- 
colored cob at either the butt or tip end, according as to 
whether the infection came from the shank or silks. Though 
there may be many ears where the mould has apparently de- 
stroyed the whole ear, and its appearance is only a bunch of 
mould, probably the greatest loss comes from the shrinkage in 
weight and quality of those ears which do not show much 
mould. 

70 



FRANK MANN'S SOIL BOOK 

The habit of the fungus is to extend the mycelium (roots) 
throughout the growth, especially the grain, and abstract there- 
from the nitrogenous matter, leaving the starch. Thus in 
consuming the most vital parts of the kernel, any ear that has 
the slightest infection, as shown by a discolored cob, is unfit 
for seed purposes. An infected ear is rarely a mature ear. 
It may have the general appearance of perfect maturity, but 
the soft and spongy cob will show otherwise. Whether the 
disease is the cause of immaturity ; or whether the lack of 
maturity is the cause of the disease, is open to proof for either 
contention. It is a fact that the diseased ears are not mature, 
and that very few immature ears are free from some degree of 
infection. 

It is generally considered that the dry rotten corn was 
due to some condition of the weather : that a humid atmos- 
phere and high temperature were responsible for the trouble. 
But the season of 1911 was the driest for many years; when 
there were but few humid days, and no heavy rainfall through- 
out the growing season, and there is more rot in corn than 
ever before. While the nature and technical causes of the 
disease responsible for rotten corn have been studied, not 
much effort has been made towards learning the measures of 
resistance. It does not seem to be due to constitutional 
reasons, as several years breeding seems to have but little 
effect against it. Observation and definite information secured 
for several years show that the disease is influenced by a bet- 
ter balance in the supply of the elements of plant food. It 
has been noticed that the rotten corn is more abundant when 
corn is grown on clover sod, where nitrogen was likely to be 
in excessive amounts as compared to other elements. This 
does not, however, conform to the belief that the corn stalks, 
etc., of the previous year are necessary sources of infec- 
tion. 

When a high nitrogen soil content is even partially bal- 
anced with phosphorus the effect on the disease is material. 
Several hundred hills from clover sod where no phosphorus 
had been applied, were examined with reference to infected 
ears, and all ears showing any infection, even to a stained 
cob, were counted ; an equal number of hills was examined 
from a nearby part of the same field, to which one ton of phos- 
phate had been added. No corn had been grown in this field 
for four years previous. From the untreated ground the corn 
that showed more or less of the disease was 40 per cent of 
the crop ; from the treated ground the infected corn was but 
15 per cent of the crop. 

71 









FIG. 20— WHEAT OX IWTRPLATED LAXD, 35 BU. PER ACRE. 
TREATED WITH ONE TON ROCK PHOSPHATE,, 50 BU. 
TREATED WITH 1 '4 TON PHOSPHATE, 52^: BU. 



72 



FRANK MANN'S SOIL BOOK 

Corn having- the dry rot has been fed more or less for 
years without any apparent injury to any kind of stock, but 
it has always been fed in connection with some highly nutri- 
tious and nitrogenous food. When the fungus has quite fully 
developed there remains but little of anything but the starch, 
and such corn makes a ration so far out of balance for animals, 
as to be a probable cause for numerous ailments. Such ail- 
ments should not be confused with the regular corn stalk dis- 
ease, which probably is bacterial, and is not caused by the 
grain. 

SUGAR BEETS. 

Good crops of sugar beets have been grown on Bois d' Arc 
farm, and there is no question as to the ability of the soil to 
produce good crops of beets having a high sugar content. 
Growing sugar beets is essentially a labor proposition. Much 
of the labor required is due to the pernicious activity of that 
most abundant weed of the corn belt — the crab-grass. In 
regions where this weed abounds and where labor is also 
scarce, there is nothing in sugar-beet culture that commends 
itself to corn belt farmers. 

Extravagant claims are sometimes made as to the effect 
of beets on soil fertility ; that as sugar is only "wind and 
water" no draft is made on soil elements in its production. 
It is true that sugar contains no fertilizing elements, and 
where only the sugar is marketed and all residues left on the 
farm, as is the case on some of the German estates, no fertility 
leaves the farm, though there may be losses of fertilizing ele- 
ments from feeding and handling. The case is dififerent, how- 
ever, when the beets are shipped to a factory and the residues 
not returned to the land, as an average crop of sugar beets 
will remove as much of the elements of fertility from the soil 
as an average crop of corn. 

It is also claimed that part of the compensation of grow- 
ing sugar beets is realized in other crops that follow the beets. 
No doubt sugar beet ground is in fine physical condition for 
other crops. Probably most of this is due to the late fall 
plowing that is necessary in digging the beets, as well as to 
that part of the deep root system that remains in the ground. 
The beets themselves have no power to add any elements of 
fertility. It does not seem that any benefit that could accrue 
from a sugar beet crop to succeeding crops, would not also 
more largely accrue from a clover crop ; and the clover crop 
would also have a further advantage of supplying nitrogen. 

n 



FRANK MANN'S SOIL BOOK 

THE VEGETABLE GARDEN. 

There is nothing from which so much might be gained in 
the way of health and economy, that is so much neglected as 
the farmer's vegetable garden. Much of this neglect is prob- 
ably because the soil of the garden is in bad physical condition 
and works up soggy and cloddy ; and it is also often the 
weediest spot on the farm. Such a condition requires so 
much hard work to grow a little poor garden stuff that it is 
easier to let most of the garden go by default. 

If the garden be divided into two or three parts, and one 
part be used for the garden and the other parts be seeded to 
clover, and thereafter the garden portion be rotated with the 
clover portion, more and better garden stuff could be grown 
with very much less work. On most soils, if the clover por- 
tion be plowed late in the fall it would provide the proverbial 
"ash heap" for a garden by spring. While in clover, as much 
manure may be applied as is desired and the trash will not 
be a nuisance by the time that portion becomes the garden 
part. 

Concentrate the garden by planting the rows close to- 
gether, say, an average of 12 inches apaTt, sandwiching the 
rows of small early stuff between rows of larger and later 
articles. When the garden is planted, sharpen the hoe well 
and hang it up, and get the hand wheel cultivator, with which 
nearly every weed can be kept down. An hour or so every 
week on clover sod will keep every weed out of a garden large 
enough for a large family. It is best to plant those things 
grown in larger quantities, as potatoes, or that occupy much 
ground, as pumpkins, in some other place where they can be 
cared for with horse tools. 

BOIS d' ARC WOOD. 

No one knows the durability of the osage or Bois d' Arc 
wood. Hedge stakes that measured less than one and one- 
half inches in diameter, set in the ground in 1868 for grape 
stakes, have stood in a blue grass sod for many years, and are 
now apparently as sound as ever. Wagon wheels made of osage 
in 1866 are still in use, though having worn out two sets of 
tires, nor did the tires need resetting until worn thin. As 
posts, it is not possible to speculate as to the durability of this 
wood. 

Where no conditions would tend to prevent it there may 
be some profit in permitting the old hedge rows to grow for 
posts. If the roots are quite well established ten years' growth 
will make very satisfactory posts. If the cutting should give 

74 



FRANK MANN'S SOIL BOOK 

1,600 posts from an eighty rod row, at a price of 20 cents each, 
and calculating the hedge row to occupy two rods wide, the 
returns, exclusive of labor, would be $320 for one acre for ten 
years, or $32 per acre annually. These figures may be ad- 
justed to different conditions, and there will remain fair pros- 
pective profits. Osage posts have no competitor for dura- 
bility except the cement post. 

To grow good posts in a hedge row, the hedge should be 
permitted to grow for several years without any trimming, 
or until the posts have grown straight and are strong enough 
not to bend over under the weight of the top. After this, the 
row should be kept trimmed on the sides, and the crooked and 
undesirable stakes cut out. When the row is made up into 
posts it is a good plan to throw the posts into a pond of 
water and leave them there for a few months to let them water 
cure. If so cured they are not eaten by borers, nor injured by 
check cracking, and the staples hold better. 

A wonderful demonstration in post growing is being con- 
ducted by Hon. A. N. Abbott, on his farm in Whiteside Co., 
111. He is growing large areas of black locust trees on some 
dune sand that is too poor to grow anything but legumes. 
The locust being a legume secures its own nitrogen, and is 
proving a valuable crop on the poor sand. 

FARM LABOR. 

This is not intended to be any solution for the scarcity of 
competent farm labor, which is due to some wide economic 
conditions that cannot be solved so easily. There is need 
of competent labor to be transferred from the cities to the 
country, and only such as can be termed good is wanted, nor 
will any other succeed. But this class of workers in the city 
have been accustomed to business hours and business habits, 
and can see nothing attractive in farm life, where during the 
hired man season, every thing is hurried from sun up till sun- 
down, as it once was. To work from dark to dark is not busi- 
ness, nor does it pay. Neither men nor horses can stand it 
if good work is to be done all the time. In a day of nine 
or ten hours in the field, with but few chores to do before and 
after, men and teams will accomplish more good work, and 
the men can feel like human beings, and the horses can feel 
their oats. If more brains were put in the business there 
would be less need for muscle and such long hours. 

75 




76 



FRANK MANX'S SOIL BOOK 

GETTING RID OF GRASSHOPPERS. 

Reprinted From Prairie 1^'armer, Septemlier 1, I^IL 

What would you consider a g'ood yield of grasshoppers 
per acre? 

Most central western farmers are getting a good deal 
larger yield this year than they would like, but few have taken 
the trouble to harvest them. Frank I. Mann of Oilman, 111., 
believing' that there is no good grasshopper but a dead grass- 
hopper, recently harvested and buried a large share of his 
hopper crop. In fact, things had about come to the point 
where it was necessary to harvest the grasshoppers or have 
nothing" else to harvest. A 55-acre clover field that was being 
saved for seed looked as if it would all have to go for grass- 
hopper pasture. In the alfalfa field the hoppers did not even 
give the buds a chance to unfold, but ate them off as fast as 
they appeared. Another week would have finished the alfalfa 
plants entirely. 

This was the condition when Mr. Mann started his grass- 
hopper harvest. The result of that harvest was 50 bushels of 
hoppers from the 55-acre clover field, and 10 bushels from the 
20-acre alfalfa field. The total yield of hoppers was nearly 
a bushel to the acre on the clov^er field and half a bushel on 
the alfalfa. 

How to Make a Hopperdozer. 

Mr. Mann's grasshopper harvester, or hopperdozer, is 
built as follows : The front of the machine is a pole about 
18 feet long. Extending back from this at each end and in 
the middle is a runner about three feet long. A platform is 
built on these runners. Just behind the front pole are placed 
a number of galvanized iron pans, about four inches deep. 
The pans altogether are 16 feet long and about 2 feet wide. 
Behind these pans, and at each end, is a four-foot backstop of 
galvanized iron. This backstop slopes forward somewhat. 
Two or three inches of water is placed in the pans, with a 
thin film of kerosene on top. The object of having small 
pans instead of one large one is to keep the liquid from run- 
ning to one end or splashing out. A horse or team is hitched 
to each end of the pole and the grasshopper harvester drawn 
through the clover or alfalfa field. 

The best time to harvest hoppers is on a warm sunshiny 
day, as they will not hop well in cold or damp weather. 
When the hoppers are disturbed by the approach of the 
machine they hop in whichever direction they happen to be 
headed. About half of them will jump backward, hit the 

n 



FRANK MANN'S SOIL BOOK 

backstop, and fall into the pans. A few of them will hop out 
again, but they never survive their kerosene bath. Those 
that hop ahead are caught later. 

In some cases one trip over the field will reduce the hop- 
pers enough so that they will do little further damage. 
Sometimes it may be necessary to go over parts of the field 
again. The hoppers congregate where the clover is thickest, 
so that often this is the only part of the field that needs to 
be gone over. With a team on each end of the machine 20 
acres of hoppers can be harvested in a day. Aside from the 
labor the only expense will be the cost of about five gallons 
of kerosene. 

Within two weeks after the grasshopper harvest Mr. 
Mann's alfalfa grew eight inches, and his clover recovered 
enough to make considerable seed. It is only occasionally 
that grasshoppers are plentiful enough to do any great amount 
of damage. The common red-legged grasshopper is subject 
to fungus diseases and insect parasites that usually keep it in 
check, but occasionally they get the start of these enemies, 
with disastrous results to crops. 

The Grasshopper's Life History. 

A word in regard to the life history of the grasshopper 
may be of interest. The female hoppers lay their eggs in 
September, always choosing hard ground, such as meadows, 
pastures or fence rows. They bore round holes in the ground 
with their abdomen, laying a mass of eggs in the hole. The 
eggs are encased in a layer of mucus, which protects them. 
It takes the female hopper three or four hours to deposit a 
single mass of eggs. Ordinarily each female will deposit from 
two to four such masses. None of the adult hoppers live 
through the winter. The eggs hatch in early midsummer. 
The small hopper, or nymph, is much like the adult insect in 
form. The skin or outer covering of the little hopper is hard 
and cannot expand. The little fellow grows until he cannot 
pack himself any more tightly into his skin. Then the skin 
splits open, and the hopper grows to almost double his former 
size in a few moments. His skin soon hardens again, and the 
growing and molting process is repeated. The hopper passes 
through five successive molts before it is full grown and 
develops its wings. The red-legged grasshopper is not migra- 
tory like the Rocky Mountain locust that sometimes does so 
much damage in the west. 

Disking alfalfa or pasture ground in the fall will break 
up the egg masses and expose them to birds and other ene- 

79 



















80 



FRANK MANN'S SOIL BOOK 

mies. Grasshoppers are so seldom troublesome, however, 
that the best method of handling them is to harvest them with 
a hopperdozer when they become so thick as to do much dam- 
age. 

A HOME-MADE PHOSPHATE SPREADER. 

By Frank I. Maxx. 

Reprinted From Prairie Fanner, September 1, 1911. 

The following is a bill of material and details of different 
parts for a machine for distributing fertilizers. By having 
the different iron parts made at a blacksmith shop, any one 
with a few tools can make the wood parts and assemble all 
the parts into a machine. This is for a machine that will 
spread eight feet wide, and is taken from a machine that has 
been used quite successfully for several years. A wider 
machine can be made on the same general plan, but the swing 
on wider machines makes the extra width of doubtful value. 

The Materials Necessary. 

Bill of material — 2 1-in.xlO-in.xTO-ft. boards; 2 l-in.xl2-in. 
xlO-ft. boards; 3 4x4x8-ft. 8-in. ; 2 4x4x44- i n. ; 1 4x4x3-ft. 6-in., 
hardwood ; 2 2x4x4-ft. 2-in. ; 1^-in. square shaft 7 ft. 2 in. long; 
4 54xl-in. iron 7 ft. 10 in.; 20 ft. ^xl in. strap iron; heavy 
sheet iron 7 in.x8 ft. ; heavy sheet iron 3 in.xS ft. 6 in. ; 2^x-)4x 
8 ft. 6 in. strap iron ; 1 piece wagon tire 4 ft. ; 1 5-16 in.x8 ft. 
round iron ; mower wheels with ratchet and shaft ; disc trucks. 

Iron work — Weld piece of round mower shaft to each end 
of square 1^^ in. shaft, so that no more than 7 ft. 10 in. is left 
square ; put on mower wheels so that the hub containing hole 
to rivet to shaft is on the outside or next to end of shaft ; set 
wheels so the distance between inside hubs is 8 ft. 9 in. ; drill 
hole in shaft to match hole in hub of wheel, having each 
wheel equally distant from square part of shaft. 

Just How to Make the Parts. 

Make 16 pieces out of ^^xl-in. iron; each piece 4 in. long, 
distance between centers of holes 3y2 in., with holes 5-16-in. ; 
shoulders to be 1^4 in. apart and 3-8 in. deep to fit on square 
shaft in pairs with ^ in. strap between. Drill 5-16-in. holes 
in two ^4x7 ft. 9 in. straps 3 in. from each end, and two holes 
equally distant between. 

In the other pair of ^x7 ft. 9-in. straps drill holes 4^^ in. 
from each end, with two holes equally distant between. Put 
clamps on shaft and bolt on straps with 5-16 in. bolts, 1^ in. 
long. 

81 



FRANK MANN'S SOIL BOOK 

Make hopper box 22 in. high, 5 in. inside at bottom and 
2 ft. wide on top. In each end bore hole for shaft to center 
2^ in. from bottom of hopper. One end of hopper should be 
bolted into place or temporarily nailed, as shaft with reel must 
be put in place before end is fastened permanently. 

Construction of the Hopper. 

The bottom of hopper and slide make of the sheet iron 
pieces. The sheet iron 7 in.x8 ft. should be heavy, even up to 
3-16 in. thick, but the 3-in. piece need not be so heavy. 

For temporary purposes rivet the two pieces together, 
the narrow piece in the middle of the wider, and even at one 
end. Mark out for holes about 8 in. between centers, with end 
holes 4 in. from each end of hopper box. 

With a 1-in. drill drill two holes as close together as pos- 
sible, then chisel and rasp out till there is a smooth hole 1 in.x2 
in., the length of the hole being with the length of the hopper. 
Separate the two pieces of sheet iron and drill a few screw 
holes in the edge of the wider piece, and fasten to the bottom 
of the hopper box with screws. 

On each side of the bottom is fastened a strip of wood 
}i in.x^ in., fastening with nails through the screw holes 
into the side of the hopper box. These two pieces should be 
just far enough apart to leave room for the cut-off slide. 
Four pair of straps similar to wagon box straps 2 ft. long, 
rounded and threaded about 2 in. at one end, should be bent 
to fit the hopper, extending an inch below the bottom piece. 

Four pieces made from old wagon tire, with 23^-in. holes 
7 in. apart, with a piece ^ in.x3 in. riveted to the middle. This 
piece should fit on the box straps, and will be the support of 
the cut-off slide. 

The cut-off slide should be reinforced by riveting on each 
edge }ix}i in. iron strap; 3 ft. 4 in. from left end is riveted 
a piece of iron that will project forward past the box about 
2 in. 

Hard Wood for the Shaft Boxes. 

A partial partition can be placed about the middle of the 
box, and rods made of 5-16 in. iron can be put at each end 
and in the middle to hold box well together and so make more 
substantial. 

Boxing for shaft can be made of any hardwood, but osage 
is the best. Make boxes about 4x4x1 ft. Bore hole to fit 
shaft and fasten the boxing temporarily to each end of hopper 
box, having hole in boxing match hole in hopper. Bolt 4x4x 
44-in. on boxing to extend 4 in. to rear of hopper, and bolt 
hopper box to this 4x4. 

82 



FRANK MANN'S SOIL BOOK 

Fit and bolt 4x4 on rear of hopper, and also on front, but 
first cut a place for lever 42 inches from left end about 6 in. 
wide and 1 in. deep. Complete frame by bolting 4x4 on front 
end of the side 4x4"s and bolt hardwood stub tongue in middle 
of frame, and using the 2x4's for braces to each end of box. 
Attach common disc truck to stub tongue. Make hand lever 
from w^agon tire, 3 ft. long with rounded handle at one end 
and fork at other end to fit gudgeon on cut-off slide ; drill hole 
13 in. from fork end and fasten lever with bolt through 4x4 
frame at notch in same. 

A 10-in. board nailed on front side of top of hopper can be 
used by driver. A piece of sheet iron can be notched and 
fastened on top as a guide to the lever. 

Capacity of the Machine. 

When wide open this machine will spread one ton per 
acre, and when half open will spread 1,000 pounds phosphate 
per acre. However, the amount spread varies somewhat with 
fineness of grinding, speed of horses, manner of handling ma- 
terial, etc. 

Enough material should he kept in the machine all the 
time to keep reel covered. It is necessary sometimes to re- 
move the cut-off slide and clean out the material that works 
in between the slide and bottom of box. If it is desired to 
spread more than one ton per acre, the holes can be increased 
in length. Four in. holes will spread about three tons per 
acre. 

After reading the foregaing directions. Dr. Cyril G. Hop- 
kins of the University of Illinois makes two suggestions. One 
of these is that the machine should be made to cover a strip 
8 feet 3 inches wide, which is exactly one-half a rod, so that 
one round on a half-mile land, or two rounds on an 80-rod land 
covers exactly one acre. It may be that Mr. Mann counts 
that his machine, although made only 8 feet in length, will 
really spread phosphate OA-er 8 feet 3 inches. It is a minor 
point, but it is very satisfactory to the farmer to have every- 
thing made so it helps him to measure the acres as he covers 
them. ' 

The other point is to make the directions such that the 
machine will be made with the holes large enough so that it 
can be set to sow three tons instead of only one ton. There 
would be no disadvantage in having the machine made to have 
a large capacity and adjustable, as it is, for any smaller capa- 
city. 

83 




84 



FRANK MANN'S SOIL BOOK 

SCIENTIFIC FARMING ON FRANK MANN'S FARM. 

Reprinted from Prairie Farmer, August 1, 1911. 

Frank I. Mann's farm at Oilman, Illinois, is no place for a 
pessimist. The sight of the crops that are growing there 
would be too much for him. Like the pessimist in the story, 
he would have to fall back on the argument that such crops 
are "powerful hard on the soil." That is just what Mr. Mann 
has foreseen and provided for, however, and therein lies the 
secret of his success. 

Thirty-two years ago Mr. Mann started farming on 500 
acres of what was then almost virgin prairie. Two years later 
he began a regular four-year rotation of corn, oats and clover, 
which he has followed as closely as possible ever since. 

Mann has Tried Everything. 

To use his own words, he "has tried everything in the art 
of farming — deep plowing and shallow plowing, double discing 
and late cultivation and every other method of soil handling 
that might have an effect on the yields." Still he was unable 
to get the yields up to a point that satisfied him, for like Julius 
Csesar, he was ambitious. Even the manure from his dairy 
herd did not bring the desired results, although it helped in 
that direction. 

Something was lacking, and Mr. Mann, who by the way, 
is a graduate of the University of Illinois, and goes at his 
problems as scientifically as a skilled physician or a railway 
president, began to inquire what it was. As a result of these 
inquiries he began to apply ground rock phosphate and his 
yields have been going up ever since. Where they will stop it 
is impossible to predict. 

One Limiting Factor. 

There is always at least one factor that is limiting the 
yield of farm crops. Mr. Mann makes it his business to dis- 
cover and eliminate that factor so far as possible. At first the 
limiting factor was phosphorus. He plans to treat each field 
with four tons of phosphate rock to the acre just as fast as he 
can make the rounds. He figures that this will take care of 
the phosphorus supply for many years to come with ocasional 
slight additions. This treatment will cost about $30 per acre — 
add that much to the cost of his farm, in other words. To 
return 5 per cent interest on this additional value will require 
no more than 4 bushels of corn or two of wheat per acre per 
year. This year a part of the wheat field that had been left 
untreated yielded 17 bushels less than the treated part. As 

85 




86 



FRANK MANN'S SOIL BOOK 

time goes on the difference will become greater, as the phos- 
phorus supply of the untreated acre grows less. 

Cost of Fertility Small. 

After the four tons of phosphate rock per acre are added, 
one cent for each bushel of wheat sold and half a cent for each 
bushel of corn will maintain the phosphorus supply. Clover 
and manure, and to some extent alfalfa, supply the nitrogen 
and organic matter. A little ground limestone ocasionally 
will keep the soil sweet. The best of cultivation is used to 
make this fertility available. This cultivation, which begins 
early in the spring, and lasts, in the case of corn, until late in 
August, when conditions demand it, also helps a great deal to 
conserve moisture. Moisture is the limiting factor in a great 
many fields this year. On Jul}^ 8, when many neighboring 
fields were firing badly, Mr. Mann's corn showed very little 
damage. This notwithstanding the fact that it was almost 
twice as big as much of the surrounding corn, and hence had 
used twice as much moisture. The corn ground is often disced 
half a dozen times before planting time. After the corn is 
too big to straddle, one-horse cultivators are kept going be- 
tween the rows until after the corn is eared out. Any weeds 
that escape this severe treatment are chased down by men 
with hoes, as Mr. Mann does not believing in sharing his plant 
food and moisture with weeds. 

Corn Breeding Plots, 

With an abundance of readily available plant food the 
limiting factor often becomes the yielding ability of the par- 
ticular variety of seed that is used. The remedy for this is 
scientific breeding. Mr. Mann maintains 96 ear-rows by which 
to select high yielding varieties of corn. "I do not consider 
anything but the yield," he says. "If nature can produce more 
corn on a tall stalk than on a short one, or more with a broad 
kernel than with a deep one, I'm going to let her do it." 

Mr. Mann is modest when it comes to speaking of yields. 
The phosphate treatment has increased his corn yields 15 
bushels per acre, his oat yields 20 bushels and his clover one 
ton. Last year his best treated corn field yielded 87 bushels 
per acre, and this season he obtained an average wheat yield 
of over 52 bushels from JVi acres. 

The Result of Science. 

But, after all, it is not large yields that make Mr. Mann's 
work remarkable. Other men by one means or another have 

87 




FIG. 26~HOW INVENTION HAS LIGHTENED THE HIRED MAN'S BURDEN. 



FRANK MANN'S SOIL BOOK 

now and then obtained yields as large. The results which Mr. 
Mann has achieved are remarkable because they come as the 
result of scientific study. "I am satisfied that I could take 
almost any farm in the state and by studying the soil and 
giving it the proper treatment build it up to the same point," 
he says. 

This is the new idea in agriculture — the Illinois idea, we 
might say, for nowhere else has it been promoted so persist- 
ently as in Illinois, and nowhere else are the farmers taking- 
hold of it so enthusiastically. To prepare and handle soil and 
seed so as to produce three or four times average yields, to do 
it continually year after year, and to make the soil more 
fertile in the process — this is an agricultural ideal worth work- 
ing toward, an ideal that agricultural nations all through his- 
tory have been struggling to reach. This is the significance 
of the work of Mr. Mann and of the other farmers in the state 
who are working along similar lines. 



89 



l/\t)i di 191^ 



FRANK MANN'S SOIL BOOK 

THE PRAIRIE FARMER'S CREED. 

I believe in red clover, I believe in cow peas, I believe in 
soy beans, and above all, I believe in alfalfa, the queen of for- 
age plants. 

I believe in a permanent agriculture, a soil that shall 
grow^ richer rather than poorer from year to year. 

I believe in hundred bushel corn and in fifty bushel wheat, 
and I shall not be satisfied with anything less. 

I believe that the only good weed is a dead weed, and that 
a clean farm is as important as a clean conscience. 

I believe in the farm boy and in the farm girl, the farmer's 
best crops and the future's best hope. 

I believe in the farm woman, and will do all in my power 
to make her life easier and happier. 

I believe in a country school that prepares for country 
life, and a country church that teaches its people to love deeply 
and live honorably. 

I believe in community spirit, a pride in home and neigh- 
bors, and I will do my part to make my own community the 
best in the state. 

I believe in better roads. I will use the road drag con- 
scientiously whenever opportunity offers, and I will not "sol- 
dier" when working out my road tax. 

I believe in happiness, I believe in the power of a smile, 
and I will use mine on every possible occasion. 

I believe in the farmer, I believe in farm life, I believe in 
the inspiration of the open country. 

I am proud to be a farmer, and I will try earnestly to be 
worthy of the name. 



90 



One copy del. to Cat. Div. 
FEB 1 1912 



"The Story of the Soil" 




THE SCIENCE OF 
SOIL FERTILITY 
TOLD IN STORY 



IF you haven't been giving 
your soil a square deal — if 
it is beginning to retaliate 
with lower yields — you should 
read Dr. Cyril Hopkins' great 
book: "The Story of the 
Soil.^^ It is a story that will 
hold your interest from cover to 
cover. It will tell you why your 
yields are low, and how to make 
them higher. 

C While you are eagerly following the fortunes of Percy Johnston, 
and his adventures in soil building and love making, you will gain a 
store of soil facts that will double the profits of your farm. This book 
is Dr. Hopkins' masterpiece, containing the cream of the knowledge 
he has gained by years of experience and research. 

C Don't you want to be a better and more prosperous farmer ? 

""The Story of the SoiV will tell you how. 

By special arrangement with the publisher, we are able to offer this 

great book at $1.30 postpaid, with a year's subscription to 

Prairie Farmer included. Send your check to 



DR. HOPKINS 



PRAIRIE FARMER PUBLISHING CO. 

BROOKS' BUILDING-CHICAGO 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 

DQDEb73DEe3 



FOUNDED 
1841 



THE ONE BIG 
ILLINOIS 
FARM PAPER 




